‘This bill rejects the President’s go-it-alone approach to foreign policy…’
Update: Late Tuesday, President Donald Trump announced he was officially withdrawing the United States from the World Health Organization.
The announcement left unclear the status of the Democrats’ prior funding commitment.
Original article below:
House Democrats introduced a spending bill this week that would reverse President Donald Trump’s decision to defund the World Health Organization.
Trump announced in April that the U.S. would no longer fund the WHO, citing the organization’s failure to adequately prepare the world for the coronavirus pandemic and its habitual kowtowing to China.
He and other Republicans lawmakers have denounced the United Nations-baked organization’s decision to install Ethiopian leader Tedros Ghebreyesus as the head of WHO, despite allegations of corruption and charges that he was beholden to China.
Democrats, however, ignored Trump’s request to defund. Instead, they increased spending for international organizations and the U.S. State Department by more than 50%, according to The Hill.
“This bill rejects the President’s go-it-alone approach to foreign policy and instead reaffirms our strong support for international allies, for reproductive health, climate change, and multilateral assistance, and for long-term investments in development and democracy,” said Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
The U.S. must “repair” it sown “global standing and commitments,” Lowey continued—commitments Trump has abandoned, she said.
Trump has made it clear that he will not support the WHO until it agrees to undergo a thorough investigation regarding the coronavirus pandemic.
“The WHO failed in its basic duty and must be held accountable,” Trump said in April.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres dismissed Trump’s concerns and said that the WHO would not cooperate with an investigation until “we have finally turned the page on this pandemic.”
“Now is not that time,” he said, claiming that the WHO needs to focus all of its resources and personnel to combating the coronavirus worldwide.
The WHO has proved itself to be a “China-centric,” corrupt organization, according to Trump and the GOP. It refused to investigate the origins of the coronavirus, and then quietly updated its website months later to include the fact that COVID-19 first appeared in China’s Wuhan region.
The WHO has also spread misinformation about the virus, claiming that it could not be transmitted via person-to-person contact earlier this year, and changing its guidance on face coverings every few weeks.
