Trump’s decision on WHO puts lives at risk, Engel says
Chair of the House c’tee on Foreign Affairs admitted organization, under fire from Trump, is ‘imperfect’
WASHINGTON – Rep. Eliot Engel (D-New York, 16th District), chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, launched an inquiry on Monday regarding the Trump administration decision to cut funding for the World Health Organization (WHO). He sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday in which he asked to receive all relevant documents to the decision-making process by May 4.
“President [Donald] Trump’s decision to halt funding for the World Health Organization in the midst of a global pandemic is counterproductive and puts lives at risk,” Engel wrote to Pompeo. “Attacking the WHO, rather than the COVID-19 outbreak, will only worsen an already dire situation by undermining one of our key tools to fight the spreading disease.”
Engel went on to portray the administration’s explanation for the decision as “inadequate,” and added that “the Committee on Foreign Affairs is determined to understand the reasons behind this self-defeating withdrawal from global leadership.”
The committee chairman admitted that the WHO is “an imperfect organization.” He recognized that “it has made mistakes during the course of this unprecedented emergency, and I would support reforms to strengthen the organization. But certainly, cutting the WHO’s funding while the world confronts the COVID-19 tragedy is not the answer. We are facing a global health emergency, requiring a comprehensive effort.”
He said that the State Department’s justification for cutting WHO funding “has come to the Congress in the form of a one-page talking points ‘fact sheet’ that contains few facts, no plan and no explanation of how suspending funds for the WHO will save lives here at home or around the world.”
Engel went on to demand that the State Department provide “all documents referring, relating to, or referencing the decision to withhold funding from the WHO.”
The Congressman requested additional documents as well, including “all documents that assess the potential impact of the WHO funding suspension on both the global and US responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, including the implications for longstanding relationships and coordination between WHO and US agencies.”