Dear C W Thank you for taking the time to express your thoughts regarding the World Health Organization (WHO). Understanding your views helps me to better represent Florida in the United States Senate, and I appreciate the opportunity to respond.
The WHO is supposed to be the world’s leading global health organization whose job is to aler…
Dear C W Thank you for taking the time to express your thoughts regarding the World Health Organization (WHO). Understanding your views helps me to better represent Florida in the United States Senate, and I appreciate the opportunity to respond.
The WHO is supposed to be the world’s leading global health organization whose job is to alert the world of emerging health crises and to coordinate response measures. While the WHO’s frontline workers do incredible work, there are serious concerns regarding the WHO’s current leadership and its ability to remain independent from foreign influence. For the first year of the COVID-19 outbreak, the WHO, under the leadership of Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, peddled the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) lies and misled the global community about the transmissibility of the virus and the severity of disease it caused. When pushed to act by the international community, the WHO did not do enough to ensure that Beijing allowed an independent, international investigation into the origins of COVID-19. Instead, it went forward with a meaningless “joint study” that was prohibited from even considering the possibility of a laboratory-associated origin. These failures have resulted in a pandemic that has tragically impacted the entire world, led to the deaths of more than one million Americans, and will leave us unprepared to respond effectively to future pandemics, particularly those originating from China.
In its efforts to appease Beijing, the WHO’s actions have repeatedly undermined global health security and the safety of the world, and this is not just limited to its failure to hold the CCP accountable for the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO has also kept Taiwan from receiving critical information about the virus and specifically excludes Taiwan from the World Health Assembly, despite its world renowned expertise in public health. Despite Taiwan’s contributions to global health and its success in combatting the virus within its own borders, the WHO continues to place China’s political agenda over the health of the global community.
Rather than holding the WHO accountable and demanding critical reforms, President Joe Biden has instead rejoined the WHO and reinstated American taxpayer contributions without setting conditions on the WHO for implementing critical reforms. I disagree with this approach. Rather than negotiate from a position of strength, President Biden gave away our leverage and is now proposing reforms that do little to prevent the CCP’s further abuse of WHO regulations and will give anti-American voices in the WHO a platform to politicize public health in ways that could harm the United States.
It is critical that we ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used responsibly and that any organization that accepts U.S. monetary support is able to do its job independently of the CCP or any other malign actor. As such, in my role on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, I will continue to review U.S. funding to international organizations and ensure that hard-earned taxpayer dollars are being spent prudently and effectively. Currently, the WHO falls short of these standards, and I therefore will continue to oppose funding to it until reforms are made. I will also continue to press for a thorough and independent international investigation into the WHO’s actions, including its unacceptably slow decision-making on whether to declare a global pandemic and whether the CCP has compromised the integrity of the organization.
We need international organizations to function without influence or pressure from malign actors. If the WHO cannot return to its mission, all responsible international actors should come together to consider what is needed to respond to emerging pandemics.
It is an honor and a privilege to serve you as your United States Senator. As a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, I will keep your thoughts in mind as I consider these issues and continue working to ensure America remains a safe and prosperous nation.
Dear C W Thank you for taking the time to express your thoughts regarding the World Health Organization (WHO). Understanding your views helps me to better represent Florida in the United States Senate, and I appreciate the opportunity to respond.
The WHO is supposed to be the world’s leading global health organization whose job is to alert the world of emerging health crises and to coordinate response measures. While the WHO’s frontline workers do incredible work, there are serious concerns regarding the WHO’s current leadership and its ability to remain independent from foreign influence. For the first year of the COVID-19 outbreak, the WHO, under the leadership of Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, peddled the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) lies and misled the global community about the transmissibility of the virus and the severity of disease it caused. When pushed to act by the international community, the WHO did not do enough to ensure that Beijing allowed an independent, international investigation into the origins of COVID-19. Instead, it went forward with a meaningless “joint study” that was prohibited from even considering the possibility of a laboratory-associated origin. These failures have resulted in a pandemic that has tragically impacted the entire world, led to the deaths of more than one million Americans, and will leave us unprepared to respond effectively to future pandemics, particularly those originating from China.
In its efforts to appease Beijing, the WHO’s actions have repeatedly undermined global health security and the safety of the world, and this is not just limited to its failure to hold the CCP accountable for the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO has also kept Taiwan from receiving critical information about the virus and specifically excludes Taiwan from the World Health Assembly, despite its world renowned expertise in public health. Despite Taiwan’s contributions to global health and its success in combatting the virus within its own borders, the WHO continues to place China’s political agenda over the health of the global community.
Rather than holding the WHO accountable and demanding critical reforms, President Joe Biden has instead rejoined the WHO and reinstated American taxpayer contributions without setting conditions on the WHO for implementing critical reforms. I disagree with this approach. Rather than negotiate from a position of strength, President Biden gave away our leverage and is now proposing reforms that do little to prevent the CCP’s further abuse of WHO regulations and will give anti-American voices in the WHO a platform to politicize public health in ways that could harm the United States.
It is critical that we ensure that U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used responsibly and that any organization that accepts U.S. monetary support is able to do its job independently of the CCP or any other malign actor. As such, in my role on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, I will continue to review U.S. funding to international organizations and ensure that hard-earned taxpayer dollars are being spent prudently and effectively. Currently, the WHO falls short of these standards, and I therefore will continue to oppose funding to it until reforms are made. I will also continue to press for a thorough and independent international investigation into the WHO’s actions, including its unacceptably slow decision-making on whether to declare a global pandemic and whether the CCP has compromised the integrity of the organization.
We need international organizations to function without influence or pressure from malign actors. If the WHO cannot return to its mission, all responsible international actors should come together to consider what is needed to respond to emerging pandemics.
It is an honor and a privilege to serve you as your United States Senator. As a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs, I will keep your thoughts in mind as I consider these issues and continue working to ensure America remains a safe and prosperous nation.
Senator Marco Rubio
www.senate.gov