U.S. Sen. Todd Young (R-IN) and several of his GOP Senate colleagues are seeking information from the World Health Organization (WHO) on its possible involvement helping the Chinese Communist Party cover up the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sen. Young, chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Multilateral International Development, Multilateral Institutions and International Economic, Energy and Environmental Policy, which has jurisdiction over the WHO, joined six other senators, including U.S. Sens. Martha McSally (R-AZ), Steve Daines (R-MT), and Joni Ernst (R-IA), in sending an April 14 letter to WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The letter requested that the WHO official answer questions ahead of an appearance before the subcommittee during a hearing on the WHO’s response to the coronavirus.
“Despite calls from Congress for the WHO to complete its own in-depth analysis on the extent of the coronavirus, we are unaware of any action thus far,” wrote Sen. Young and his colleagues. “Ahead of an anticipated congressional hearing, we write today to request information regarding the WHO’s failed and delayed response to the coronavirus.”
Because American taxpayers help fund the WHO, the lawmakers want to ensure their taxpayer dollars are being spent wisely and therefore asked that the director-general address several questions, including what protocols and procedures the WHO had in place for epidemics, suspected pandemics and pandemics prior to December 2019; when the WHO first knew China had cases of a potential SARS-like virus; and when the WHO team first arrived in China to start investigating the coronavirus.
“American taxpayers deserve answers about how their taxpayer dollars are spent, and whether Congress should continue to spend millions of dollars every year to fund the WHO,” wrote Sen. Young and his colleagues.