WASHINGTON – On Tuesday, U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) introduced the No WHO Pandemic Treaty Without Senate Approval Act as an amendment to the repeal of the 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMF). The No WHO Pandemic Treaty Act would require Senate advice and consent of any convention, agreement, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response reached by the World Health Assembly (WHA).
“Today, Democrats defeated my amendment to require Senate ratification for any pandemic agreement with the World Health Organization. Now we know Democrats are willing to relinquish U.S. sovereignty to a global entity. How sad,” the Senator tweeted.
Senator Johnson’s full remarks can be found here and below.
“Mr. President, last December, the World Health Assembly established an Intergovernmental Negotiating Body to draft a new convention on pandemic prevention and preparedness. In its fourth meeting last month, the negotiating body accepted a draft of this new convention that would give the World Health Organization broad new powers in managing future pandemics. If accepted, it would cement the World Health Organization at the center of a global system for managing future pandemics, and it would erode U.S. sovereignty. Let me just list a few of the examples of some of the provisions of this draft, and I’ll call it a treaty. Currently, it would require a substantial new financial -U.S. financial commitment- to an international body without proportional voting power. It would require the U.S. to give the World Health Organization 20% of vaccines and other pandemic-related products produced for future pandemics. It includes a heavy emphasis on the transfer of intellectual property rights to the World Health Organization. It gives the World Health Organization a leading role in fighting misinformation and disinformation. And as the Twitter Files reveal, that leads to censorship and the suppression and abridging of freedom of speech. It also promotes a global one health approach to health care, including harmonizing regulation under WHO guidance. The WHO has not earned this power. Far from it. At a critical moment in late 2019 and early 2020, the WHO utterly failed to detect the emerging COVID-19 pandemic and delayed informing its member states. Instead, it was kowtowing to Beijing. Unfortunately, there are indications that the Biden Administration is considering joining this new convention by executive agreement and avoiding the Senate. We should not let this happen. An agreement of such magnitude needs to be submitted to the Senate for advice and consent. This is not a partisan issue. This is about reclaiming the Senate’s prerogatives on international agreements. Mr. President, I call up my amendment number 11 and ask the amendment to be reported by number.”
