New Bill Would ‘Protect American Sovereignty Against WHO’: GOP Senators

Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) questions Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz during a Senate Committee On Homeland Security And Governmental Affairs hearing at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 18, 2019. Samuel Corum/Getty Images

U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) introduced legislation in the upper chamber this month that they say would be a safeguard of American sovereignty against the World Health Organization (WHO).

“This legislation would require any convention or agreement resulting from the work of the [WHO’s] intergovernmental negotiating body be deemed a treaty, requiring the advice and consent of a supermajority of the Senate,” according to a Feb. 27 statement published on Blackburn’s website. The proposed legislation is named the “No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act.”