Biden Admin Negotiates Deal to Give WHO Authority Over US Pandemic Policies
A World Health Organization (WHO) sign
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/who-pa.../20/id/1109356/
By Brian Freeman | Monday, 20 February 2023 12:01 PM EST


The Biden administration is readying to sign a "legally binding" agreement with the World Health Organization that would permit it the authority to dictate U.S. policies during a pandemic, The Epoch Times has reported.

The "zero draft" of a pandemic treaty was published earlier this month and the final terms are scheduled to be worked out next week so that all members can then sign.

This came on the heels of a meeting in September, where a joint announcement put out by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared that a platform has been developed "to maximize the longstanding U.S. government-WHO partnership, and to protect and promote the health of all people around the globe, including the American people."

Despite widespread criticism of the organization for its actions during the coronavirus pandemic, the zero draft grants the organization the power to declare and manage a global pandemic emergency.

If a health emergency is declared, all signatories would have to submit to the authority of the WHO regarding treatments, government regulations such as lockdowns and vaccine mandates, global supply chains, and monitoring and surveillance of populations, according to The Epoch Times report over the weekend.

David Bell, a public health physician and former WHO staffer specializing in epidemic policy, warned The Epoch Times that "they want to see a centralized, vaccine-and-medication-based response, and a very restrictive response in terms of controlling populations.

"They get to decide what is a health emergency, and they are putting in place a surveillance mechanism that will ensure that there are potential emergencies to declare."

The WHO pandemic treaty is part of a two-track attempt, coinciding with an initiative by the World Health Assembly, the rule-making body of the WHO, to create new global pandemic regulations that would also supersede the laws of member states.

Francis Boyle, professor of international law at Illinois University, told The Epoch Times that "both [initiatives] are fatally dangerous. Either one or both would set up a worldwide medical police state under the control of the WHO, and in particular WHO Director-General Tedros.-- excerpt, rest at link above --

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Republicans Push Back Against Accord Giving WHO Power Over US Pandemic Response
Legal experts question whether Senate approval is necessary
Small figurines are seen in front of the World Health Organization logo in this illustration taken on Feb. 11, 2022. (Dado Ruvic/Reuters)
https://www.theepochtimes.com/republican...se_5070968.html
By Kevin Stocklin
February 21, 2023Updated: February 21, 2023


As member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) prepare to gather in Switzerland next week to negotiate final terms of an accord that will give the WHO centralized authority over U.S. policy in the case of a pandemic, Republican senators are pushing back with an effort to reinforce congressional power to authorize treaties.

The draft accord, which would be “legally binding” on all 194 member nations, gives the WHO the authority to declare pandemics and submits member countries to “the central role of the WHO as the directing and coordinating authority on international health work,” in areas like lockdowns, treatments, medical supply chains, surveillance, and “disinformation and false news,” once a pandemic is declared.

Seventeen U.S. senators, led by Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), introduced the “No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act” on Feb 15, which states that the pandemic accord must be deemed a treaty, thus requiring the consent of a supermajority of the Senate, which is two-thirds, or 67 senators. The legislation comes as the WHO gears up to present what it calls the “zero draft” of the accord, negotiated with the help of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, to all member nations on Feb. 27 to agree final terms.

Other sponsors of the bill included Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.), John Hoeven (R-N.D.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Mike Braun (R-Ind.), Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), and Katie Britt (R-Ala.).

“The WHO, along with our federal health agencies, failed miserably in their response to COVID-19,” Sen. Johnson stated. “This failure should not be rewarded with a new international treaty that would increase the WHO’s power at the expense of American sovereignty.”

But some doubt this bill, even if approved, will stop the WHO accord from going into effect once President Joe Biden signs it.

“With all due respect to the sponsoring senators, that will not do the trick,” Francis Boyle, professor of international law at Illinois University, told The Epoch Times. The reason, he said, is that the WHO accord is drafted specifically to circumvent the Senate-approval process, and Congress instead should immediately withhold its yearly contributions to the WHO and take the United States out of the organization.

Currently, the United States is the largest contributor to the WHO’s $6.72 billion budget, of which $1.25 billion is for “health emergencies.” The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the second largest donor to the WHO, contributing 9 percent of its budget in 2021; China is the third.
Will Biden Need Senate Approval for WHO Accord?

It remains unclear if the Biden administration will need Senate approval for the WHO accord to go into effect. The accord itself states that it will become effective and legally binding on member states “provisionally,” as soon as it is signed and before any national legislatures approve it.

“The Biden administration can indicate that it is provisionally bringing this treaty into force upon the mere signature of the treaty,” Boyle said. “Hence, it will come into force here in the United States provisionally until the Senate decides whether or not it is going to give its advice and consent to the treaty. I personally know of no other U.S. treaty that provides for its provisional application pending the U.S. Senate giving its advice and consent to the treaty.”

While the U.S. Constitution states that the president can make treaties “provided two-thirds of the senators present concur,” American presidents have increasingly been signing international agreements without Senate consent, and those agreements have taken effect in the United States regardless.

According to the Senate’s website: “Treaties to which the United States is a party also have the force of federal legislation, forming part of what the Constitution calls ‘the supreme Law of the Land’ … In recent decades, presidents have frequently entered the United States into international agreements without the advice and consent of the Senate. These are called ‘executive agreements.’ Though not brought before the Senate for approval, executive agreements are still binding on the parties under international law.”

A report by Justia, a legal analysis and marketing firm, states that “the executive agreement has surpassed in number and perhaps in international influence the treaty formally signed, submitted for ratification to the Senate, and proclaimed upon ratification.

“During the first half-century of its independence, the United States was party to 60 treaties but to only 27 published executive agreements,” the report states. “Between 1939 and 1993, executive agreements comprised more than 90 percent of the international agreements concluded.”-- excerpt, rest at link above --

WHO’s Power to Govern US Pandemics Back on the Table; Biden Launches Sweeping ‘Equity’ Programs
https://www.theepochtimes.com/whos-power...tent=02-21-2023
Crossroads
JOSHUA PHILIPP

The World Health Organization (WHO) may soon have the authority to decide how the United States handles pandemics. Negotiations are currently underway on a deal, where the United States could grant the WHO a new special authority.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has appointed Susan Rice as the chair of a new “White House Steering Committee on Equity,” which will create sweeping programs throughout the federal government to create “equitable outcomes.”

In this live Q&A with Crossroads host Joshua Philipp, we’ll discuss these stories and others, and answer questions from the audience.-- excerpt, rest at link above --