House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says President Donald Trump’s decision to withhold funding to the World Health Organization is “illegal” and will be “swiftly challenged” by Democrats.
Trump announced Tuesday he intended to at least temporarily halt U.S. funding to the United Nations public health agency over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic. The president claimed the WHO promoted China’s “disinformation” about the severity of the outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year.
The U.S. is the biggest overall donor to the Geneva-based global world health agency, contributing more than $400 million in 2019 ― about 15% of its budget ― according to Reuters. The money goes to public health programs throughout the world, from war-torn countries like Yemen to those dedicated to fighting Ebola.
Pelosi slammed Trump’s decision on Wednesday. She and other House Democratic leaders maintain Trump does not have unilateral authority to freeze congressionally appropriated funding to the WHO over a policy disagreement. They’re pointing to a similar decision from a federal watchdog that found that the Trump administration broke the law when it withheld assistance to Ukraine, which led to the president’s impeachment.
Trump’s targeting of the WHO, Pelosi charged, is an effort by him to shift blame for the rise of the deadly epidemic in the U.S., which has cost more than 25,000 lives so far.
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