SE Wyoming News

U.S. Senators John Barrasso and Cynthia Lummis, both R-Wyo., along with Senator Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and the entire Senate Republican Conference, have sent a letter to President Biden. They are urging the administration to withdraw support of two international agreements that are being considered at the World Health Assembly (WHA) this month. The senators argue that these agreements would grant greater power to the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare public health emergencies and expand their authority over member states.

The senators believe these regulations could risk U.S. sovereignty and highlight the organization’s failures during the COVID-19 pandemic. They call on President Biden to withdraw support and focus on reforms that would address the persistent failures of the WHO.

“The WHO’s failure during the COVID-19 pandemic was as total as it was predictable and did lasting harm to our country. The United States cannot afford to ignore this latest WHO inability to perform its most basic function and must insist on comprehensive WHO reforms before even considering amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHR)…” wrote the senators.

They expressed deep concern about the administration's continued support for these initiatives and strongly urged a change in course. “Should you ignore this advice, we state in the strongest possible terms that we consider any such agreement to be a treaty requiring the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate under Article II Section 2 of the Constitution,” they continued.

The full text of their letter can be found here.