Halts funding to WHO

[struggle4progress]

By Brittany Shammas, Felicia Sonmez, Siobhán O'Grady, Adam Taylor, Candace Buckner, Samantha Pell, Meryl Kornfield and Teo Armus
April 14, 2020 at 10:39 p.m. EDT

President Trump announced Tuesday that he instructed his administration to stop funding the World Health Organization ...

The U.S. reported more than 2,300 deaths on Tuesday ...

Covid-19 checkpoints targeting out-of-state residents in several states, including Rhode Island, Florida and Texas, are drawing complaints and legal scrutiny ...

More than 2,100 U.S. cities are now bracing for budget shortfalls, with many planning cuts and layoffs ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/04/14/coronavirus-latest-news/

[struggle4progress]

1. Turns against WHO to mask his own failings

Julian Borger in Washington
Published on Tue 14 Apr 2020 21.29 EDT

... The US is the WHO’s biggest donor .. though it is .. $200m in arrears ...

“It’s a bizarre decision that would be profoundly detrimental to global public health,” said Gavin Yamey, the director of Duke University’s center for policy impact in global health. “He’s trying to distract from his own errors that have led to the worst government response to Covid-19 on Earth” ...

The WHO first raised the alert over the Wuhan outbreak on 5 January, and beginning on 7 January it was briefing public health officials from the US and other national governments on the outbreak in regular teleconference calls. On 9 January the WHO distributed guidance to member states for their own risk assessment and planning ...

While the WHO was obliged to report on the latest findings of a member state at the source of the outbreak, its officials told their counterparts in technical briefings on 10 and 11 January, and briefed the press on 14 January, that human-to-human transmission was still a strong possibility given the experience of past coronavirus epidemics and urged suitable precautions ...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/apr/15/trump-turns-against-who-to-mask-his-own-stark-failings-on-covid-19-crisis

[crickets]

5. $200m in arrears

That is disturbing. Sounds like another Ukraine situation. Here's hoping Congress is aware and on it, because the WHO needs that money and we all need the WHO.

Dammit I hate this man.

[struggle4progress]

2. Halts World Health Organization funding

APRIL 14, 2020 / 6:31 PM
Jeff Mason, Steve Holland

Trump, at a White House news conference, said the WHO had “failed in its basic duty and it must be held accountable” ...

... American Medical Association President Dr. Patrice Harris called it “a dangerous step in the wrong direction that will not make defeating COVID-19 easier” and urged Trump to reconsider ...

Democratic Representative Nita Lowey, who heads the U.S. House of Representatives Committee that sets government spending, said ... “The coronavirus cannot just be defeated here in the United States, it has to be defeated in every conceivable location throughout the world” ...

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-trump-who/trump-halts-world-health-organization-funding-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-idUSKCN21W34Y

[dlk]

3. Because who really needs a world health organization in the middle of a pandemic?

Thank you stable genius.

[crickets]

4. Leaving the links, but note article re US being in arrears above. *sigh*

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213287362

Congress has already authorized $122 million for the WHO for this fiscal year, and while Trump has proposed only $58 million of funding in fiscal year 2021, Congress is unlikely to authorize such a drastic funding cut, especially in the the middle of the pandemic.

His foot stamping is politically damaging, but ultimately (again) trump claims he is going to do things that he actually can't do. Congress has the purse strings.

See also Impoundment Control Act
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-violated-another-law-impoundment-control-act-withholding-ukraine-aid-democratic-senator-1478966

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. He can try, but Congress can stop him. They appropriate funds,

not the executive branch.

Evan Hollander, spokesperson for the House Appropriations Committee, called Trump's announced move "a desperate attempt to deflect blame," and said "The President does not have the unilateral authority to withhold the United States’ contribution to the World Health Organization."

Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, in a statement referred to past comments from United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres in which he said, "We are only as strong as the weakest health system in our interconnected world."

She said that if the virus is not defeated around the world, the United States will remain at risk, and that Trump should not be taking away valuable resources in that fight.

"I hope the President will see the need to use all avenues to defeat this virus. If not, Congress will ensure that the United States Government will," Lowey said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-says-he-halting-funding-world-health-organization-n1183941

[dreamland]

7. Did I read that correctly? He refused the tests offered by WHO

And decided that the US had to make their own tests which turned out to be flawed?!! He completely set us on a path to hell.