Republican Sens. Steve Daines of Montana and Tom Cotton of Arkansas are calling upon President Joe Biden to pull the U.S. out of the World Health Organization.
“We urge you to not only rescind your administration’s proposed January 18, 2022, amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR), but also to withdraw the United States from this corrupt and inept international organization,” the Republicans wrote in a letter to the president that has been posted by Fox News.
“The WHO has demonstrated an abysmal lack of competence throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which has destroyed the organization’s credibility and undermined the public’s confidence in it,” they declared. “The WHO severely mismanaged the pandemic, failed to get public health information to the world, and willingly promoted misinformation that helped Communist China cover up its responsibility for a global pandemic.”
The WHO is an agency of the United Nations, according to the WHO’s website.
Many conservatives would likely support the idea of having the U.S. withdraw from the WHO, but it seems very unlikely that the Biden administration would ever make such a move.
While the Trump administration had planned on pulling America out of the WHO in 2021, the Biden administration reversed course.
“This letter constitutes a retraction by the Government of the United States of the letter dated July 6, 2020, notifying you that the Government of the United States intended to withdraw from the World Health Organization (WHO), effective July 6, 2021. The United States intends to remain a member of the World Health Organization,” Biden noted in a letter to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.
“The WHO plays a crucial role in the world’s fight against the deadly COVID-19 pandemic as well as countless other threats to global health and health security. The United States will continue to be a full participant and a global leader in confronting such threats and advancing global health and health security,” Biden’s letter stated.