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Lara Logan warns Biden looking to skirt Congress, sign WHO ‘pandemic treaty’

November 29, 2023 | | Print Article

Conservatives are crying foul over a United Nations World Health Organization proposal that they claim would mean America losing its sovereignty.

The proposal emerged earlier this year, leading to the accusation that, if accepted by President Joe Biden, America would cede its pandemic authority to the WHO.

“A legally-binding World Health Organization ‘pandemic treaty’ will give the organization the authority to control U.S. policies during a pandemic, including those on vaccines, lockdowns, school closures and more,” the accusation read, according to the Associated Press.

The AP for its part sought to “debunk” the claim by arguing that the proposal, known as the “pandemic treaty,” would do no such thing.

“The voluntary treaty, which is in draft form and is still far away from ratification, does not overrule any nation’s ability to pass individual pandemic-related policies, multiple experts, including one involved in the draft process, [said],” the AP claimed.

“The treaty lays out broad recommendations related to international cooperation on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Nowhere in the 30-page document are lockdowns, closures or specific citizen surveillance systems mentioned,” its supposed “fact-check” continued.

Yet months later, the issue still remains up for debate, with conservatives still crying foul:

In the tweet above, conservative Ann Vandersteel encouraged all conservatives to contact their representatives in Congress and urge them to vote for HR 1425.

Titled the “No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act,” the bill would make it so that President Biden would have to go through Congress first to sign the “pandemic treaty.”

The bill, seen here, contains a number of facts relevant to this debate

“A Pew Research Center survey conducted in April and May 2020 indicated that 51 percent of Americans felt that WHO had done a poor or fair job in managing the COVID–19 pandemic,” one fact reads.

The bill also points to Section 723.3 of Title 11 of the Department of State’s Foreign Affairs Manual.

“[When] determining whether any international agreement should be brought into force as a treaty or as an international agreement other than a treaty, the utmost care is to be exercised to avoid any invasion or compromise of the constitutional powers of the President, the Senate, and the Congress as a whole,” the section reads.

Award-winning investigative journalist Lara Logan has also endorsed Vandersteel’s tweet:

The bill continues by arguing that Congress most Americans are skeptical of the WHO and that Congress prefers any treaty first go through the U.S. Senate.

“A significant segment of the American public is deeply skeptical of the World Health Organization, its leadership, and its independence from the pernicious political influence of certain member states, including the People’s Republic of China,” it reads.

“Congress strongly prefers that any agreement related to pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response adopted by the World Health Assembly pursuant to the work of the INB be considered a treaty requiring the advice and consent of the Senate, with two-thirds of Senators concurring,” it continues.

INB is short for the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body.

The bill concludes by arguing that Senate approval is in fact required by law.

“Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any convention, agreement, or other international instrument on  pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response reached by the World Health Assembly pursuant to the recommendations, report, or work of the International Negotiating Body established by the second special session of the World Health Assembly is deemed to be a treaty that is subject to the requirements of article II, section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States, which requires the advice and consent of the Senate, with two thirds of Senators concurring,” it reads.

Dovetailing back to Vandersteel’s tweet, conservatives responded to it by stressing their belief that “no crooked politician,” meaning presumably Biden, should be able to sign any sort of treaty without congressional approval.

Look:

Vivek Saxena
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