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EXCLUSIVE: The House Freedom Caucus is demanding that President Biden either withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization (WHO) or correct the organization’s “rampant corruption.”
In a letter sent to Biden Monday, the Republican lawmakers urge Biden to halt efforts to “empower” the WHO, and instead “either immediately resume President Trump’s withdrawal from the body or, at the very least, push serious reforms to aggressively correct the organization’s rampant corruption and ineffectual leadership.”
The Biden administration is set to propose amendments to the International Health Regulations (IHRs) during the 75th World Health Assembly in Geneva this week, which the congressmen say would surrender the U.S. government’s control during a public health emergency to a foreign body.
The lawmakers also take issue with the organization’s failure to remove the WHO director general, who they argue ti responsible for China’s cover up of COVID-19 origins.
“Reportedly aimed at targeting China’s manipulation and obstruction of WHO throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, these amendments in fact empower the same individual most responsible for enabling that nation’s malfeasance: WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,” they write in the letter obtained first by Fox News Digital.
“We call on you to instead use the 75th World Health Assembly as an opportunity to demand a radical course correction and change in leadership.”
They conclude: “Under no circumstances should you cede our government’s operational control in a public health emergency to an international body. In the event any agreement is reached on a “global pandemic treaty,” we expect you to fully comply with Article II, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which clearly states that ‘the President shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur.'”
The House Republicans’ letter comes the week after Sens. Steve Daines, R-Mont., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., called on Biden to remove the U.S. from the WHO over the agency’s “abysmal lack of competence” throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
The senators also took issue with the Biden administration’s plan to support amendments to the IHRs from Jan. 18, which they say would increase the WHO’s power at the expense of the U.S. and its allies.
A source within the White House told Fox News Digital that the administration “believes in science.”
“The WHO is an important body to coordinate global health activities and provide evidence-based guidance on the world’s health crisis. Would also note that the United States is in a stronger, more effective position to advance WHO reforms that would create global health equity while also protecting the homeland if we have a seat at the table,” the Biden administration source said.
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The WHO has come under fire from members of Congress over the last two years. Lawmakers have called the organization a “puppet” for the Chinese Communist Party and have accused WHO of working to conceal COVID-19 origins.
Last month, House Republicans dug in on their investigation of COVID-19 origins with a new round of letters seeking transparency and accountability from the Biden administration and scientists. Republicans call on Biden to push aggressive reforms to correct the World Health Organization’s ‘corruption’