Senators to Biden: Signing WHO Treaty Unacceptable

May 3, 2024 | Washington, D.C.

by Kristen A. Ullman, President, Eagle Forum

Nearly Half of US Senate Calls WHO Treaty “Dead on Arrival,” Urges Biden to Delay Acceptance

This week, 49 members of the U.S. Senate signed a letter to President Biden opposing the administration’s secretive plan to sign onto two instruments drafted by the World Health Assembly that will, in effect, make the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus – the dictator of U.S. public health. Eagle Forum applauds the Senators for taking a strong stand for our national and personal sovereignty.

This powerful joint congressional letter, spearheaded by Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and signed by every Republican Senator, declared that “the most recently available version of the pandemic response treaty is dead on arrival.” The signatories declared that “Instead of addressing the WHO’s well-documented shortcomings,” the proposed Pandemic Treaty would have the effect of “supercharging the WHO” at the expense of, among other things, freedom of speech and property rights.  

The letter also points out that a second instrument, involving radically transformative amendments to the existing International Health Regulations (IHR) is “not in order.” They properly point to Article 55 of the current IHR which requires any draft changes be provided to member states at least four months before a final vote on their adoption. The World Health Assembly (WHA) is meeting to adopt these amendments at its next meeting scheduled for May 27-June 1, 2024, despite the fact that no final draft has been released.

The text of the IHR amendment treaty is still under active negotiation – and appears likely to remain so, or at least kept secret until it is put to a vote by the WHA at the end of this month. The Senators remind the President that the WHA having failed to make the package of reforms available by the timeframe required, “amendments are not in order.”

Every member of the Republican caucus in the U.S. Senate, almost half the entire body, is now on record in strong opposition to the Biden administration agreeing to these global governance instruments at the end of the month. As they put it in the joint letter’s concluding paragraph:

“In light of the high stakes for our country and our constitutional duty, we call upon you to (1) withdraw your administration's support for the current IHR amendments and pandemic treaty negotiations, (2) shift your administration's focus to comprehensive WHO reforms that address its persistent failures without expanding its authority, and (3) should you ignore these calls, submit any pandemic related agreement to the Senate for its advice and consent.”

In addition, every GOP Senator has also cosponsored Senator Johnson’s S.444, the “No Pandemic Preparedness Treaty without Senate Approval Act.” This legislation and its House counterpart, H.R. 1425, sponsored by Rep. Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin, should now be considered as soon as possible. 

Eagle Forum thanks the Senators for their outspoken opposition to the Administration’s plans to obligate the United States to these sovereignty-violating treaties. We call upon House and Senate leadership to include the requirements of S. 444/H.R.1425 in the next bill headed for the President’s desk.