The House Foreign Affairs Committee wants information about President Donald Trump’s decision to suspend funding to the World Health Organization (WHO).
“President Trump’s decision to halt funding for the World Health Organization (WHO) during a global pandemic is counterproductive and puts lives at risk,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday.
The letter continued, “The Administration’s explanation for this decision is inadequate, and the Committee on Foreign Affairs is determined to understand the reasons behind this self-defeating withdrawal from global leadership.”
Engel defended the WHO as an “imperfect agency” that has “made mistakes” during the outbreak. However, he argued that it is “only as functional as its member states empower it to be” and should be reformed and given more power instead of defunded.
He also said that agency has been “invaluable” in helping world leaders slow the spread of the virus. However, he slammed the Trump administration’s response to the outbreak as “calamitous.”
“The Administration’s response, on the other hand, has been calamitous. A growing record of public reporting points to the President’s policy of denial, deflection, and delay, despite ample intelligence and expertise that warned of this pandemic’s lethal potential.”
Additionally, Engel sought information regarding the administration’s decision to halt funding to the agency as well as “a complete description of the legal authority or authorities pursuant to which the Administration intends to execute the WHO funding suspension.”
Trump moved to halt funding to the WHO early this month and claimed it had helped spread “disinformation” about the virus.
During a press conference at the White House on April 8, Pompeo said the administration was “reevaluating” its funding of the agency, as IJR has previously reported.
“Organizations have to work. They have to deliver the outcomes for which they were intended,” Pompeo said.
He added, “They have to execute on the mission that they are designed to achieve, and we’ve seen with respect to the World Health Organization … here we are. It hasn’t accomplished what it was intended to deliver.”
The WHO has defended its handling of the outbreak and said that it cannot investigate beyond the information it is provided.
