Trump Halts World Health Organization Funding in Midst of Coronavirus Pandemic

President Donald Trump during a campaign rally at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020, in Phoenix, Ariz. (Yasamin Jafari Tehrani / The Corsair)

President Donald Trump recently announced he would halt all U.S. funding of the World Health Organization (WHO), a specialized agency of the United Nations and the leading international health organization, pending a review of its coronavirus response by his administration.

The United States is the largest monetary supporter of the WHO, distributing roughly $553 million for 2018-2019 while accounting for 14.67 percent of its total budget, according to the WHO’s own website.

During a White House briefing in the Rose Garden, Trump announced that, "[he is] instructing [his] administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization's role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus.”

The president provided no evidence for his claim that the WHO purposely covered up or misled the public regarding what would come to be called COVID-19. The WHO declared a “public health emergency of international concern” regarding the novel coronavirus on January 30.

The president has recently taken significant criticism from lawmakers and public health experts for his administration’s handling and management of the coronavirus outbreak and ongoing pandemic, particularly their early response and continued lack of sufficient testing capability.

"As the organization's leading sponsor, the United States has a duty to insist on full accountability," Trump said during the briefing. "One of the most dangerous and costly decisions from the WHO was its disastrous decision to oppose travel restrictions from China and other nations.”

The president continued by stating that the WHO was slow to respond to the crisis and that the organization has been “China-centric.” Trump himself repeatedly praised Chinese President Xi Jinping’s response to the pandemic in recent months.

A presidential tweet from January 24 stated, “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency…on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!" Trump followed up on February 7 by tweeting, “"Just had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus…Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation.”

The president continued his praise for the Chinese leader’s COVID-19 response three days later during an interview on Fox Business with Trish Regan, stating, "I think China is very, you know, professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control…China, I can tell you, is working very hard.”

During a White House briefing on February 23, Trump said that China shouldn’t do anything different in their handling of the crisis, stating, "No, I think President Xi is working very, very hard. I spoke to him. He's working very hard. I think he's doing a very good job…He’s working very hard to solve the problem and he will solve the problem. Okay?"

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus responded to Trump’s decision to end funding the following day, stating in a press conference that, "We regret the decision of the president of the United States…WHO is reviewing the impact of our work of any withdrawal of U.S. funding, and will work with our partners to fill any financial gaps we face and to ensure our work continues uninterrupted.”

It is not clear whether the president has the authority to cut off funding to international organizations like the WHO without Congressional approval. Article I, section 9, clause 7 of the US Constitution states that, “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law,” in what is commonly referred to as the power of the purse.

The 1937 court case of Cincinnati Soap Co. v. United States set legal precedent regarding Congress’s role in funding. As Justice George Sutherland wrote in his ruling opinion, the constitutional provision, “was intended as a restriction upon the disbursing authority of the Executive department…It means simply that no money can be paid out of the Treasury unless it has been appropriated by an act of Congress.”

The ranking Democrat member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT), criticized the president's decision to halt WHO funding, saying that, "withholding funding for WHO in the midst of the worst pandemic in a century makes as much sense as cutting off ammunition to an ally as the enemy closes in.”

House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi also criticized Trump’s actions in an April 14 publicly released letter to her Democratic colleagues, writing that, “Donald Trump dismantled the infrastructure handed to him which was meant to plan for and overcome a pandemic, resulting in unnecessary deaths and economic disaster… in January, Donald Trump was warned about this pandemic, ignored those warnings, took insufficient action and caused unnecessary death and disaster.” She called the president “a weak person” and “a poor leader”, who “takes no responsibility” for his actions.

The national death toll due to COVID-19 passed 50,000 this week, less than two months after the first coronavirus death in the United States was reported on February 29. Public health experts have warned that a vaccine for the virus is at least a year away.