24 Republican governors tell Biden they will resist ‘unconstitutional’ WHO pandemic treaty

[Stone]

24 Republican governors tell Biden they will resist ‘unconstitutional’ WHO pandemic treaty
Republican governors in nearly half the states condemned the WHO’s pandemic treaty and International Health Regulations in a letter to Joe Biden, warning that they violate ‘our Constitution’s core principles’ and threaten America’s ‘national sovereignty.’

May 24, 2024
(LifeSiteNews [adapted - not all hyperlinks included]) — Almost half the governors in the U.S., all of them Republicans, have signed a letter to President Joe Biden declaring that they will resist any efforts of the World Health Organization (WHO) to control public policy in America through its proposed “Pandemic Agreement” and amended International Health Regulations (IHRs).

The 24 governors declared their united opposition to the pending treaty and IHRs because the agreements “would undermine national sovereignty, infringe upon states’ rights, and jeopardize constitutionally guaranteed freedoms.” The Biden administration reportedly plans to bypass the legal requirement that the U.S. Senate agree to a treaty with a two-thirds vote.

The GOP state leaders said that the aim of these agreements is to allow the WHO to “restrict the rights of U.S. citizens, including freedoms such as speech, privacy, travel, choice of medical care, and informed consent, thus violating our Constitution’s core principles.”

The governors asserted that the agreements would “seek to elevate the WHO” from a merely advisory – if already massively influential – body, “to a global authority in public health” able to “compe[l] citizens to comply with WHO directives,” potentially including medical intervention mandates. They noted that the WHO would furthermore be able to unilaterally “declare a ‘public health emergency of international concern’ (PHEIC) in member nations, extending beyond pandemics to include a range of perceived emergencies.”

READ: Rep. Chris Smith warns WHO pandemic treaty is the greatest threat to freedom in human history

Echoing the concerns of other public figures around the world, they stressed that this would altogether undermine the sovereignty of WHO member nations. Other dangers of the agreements include “global surveillance infrastructure and requirements for member states to censor speech related to public health,” according to the governors.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, and the others noted that the pandemic treaty and the IHRs would give the WHO “unprecedented and unconstitutional powers over the United States and its people” and “could drastically change the role of governors in response to their charge as the state health officials.”

“As governors, we affirm that public health policy is a matter reserved for the states, not the federal government, and certainly not international bodies like the WHO. We are committed to resisting any attempts to transfer authority to the WHO over public policy affecting our citizens or any efforts by the WHO to assert such authority over them,” the governors concluded.

A growing number of public figures as well as U.S. states and elected officials have raised the alarm about the so-called Pandemic Agreement in recent months.

Earlier this month, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin rallied every Republican in the U.S. Senate to sign an open letter imploring the Biden administration to reject the pending agreements being considered at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in late May.

READ: All 49 GOP senators call on Biden admin to withdraw support for WHO pandemic treaty

On Thursday, April 18, a group of GOP lawmakers and conservative activists similarly warned about the agreement at a press conference on Capitol Hill organized by the Sovereignty Coalition.

“The treaty would put us under the thumb of the UN and communist China and the WHO for whatever they wanted to declare a crisis, whether it’s poverty crisis, or a gun violence crisis or a climate crisis, or a health crisis, and make us listen to the WHO. That is not constitutional,” Rep. Bob Good of Virginia declared.

This year’s meeting of the World Health Assembly, the decision-making body of the WHO, will be held from May 27 to June 1 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The governors who signed the letter to Biden include: Governor Kay Ivey (AL), Governor Mike Dunleavy (AK), Governor Sarah Sanders (AR), Governor Ron DeSantis (FL), Governor Brian Kemp (GA), Governor Brad Little (ID), Governor Eric Holcomb (IN), Governor Kim Reynolds (IA), Governor Jeff Landry (LA), Governor Tate Reeves (MS), Governor Greg Gianforte (MT), Governor Jim Pillen (NE), Governor Joe Lombardo (NV), Governor Chris Sununu (NH), Governor Doug Burgum (ND), Governor Kevin Stitt (OK), Governor Henry McMaster (SC), Governor Kristi Noem (SD), Governor Bill Lee (TN), Governor Greg Abbott (TX), Governor Spencer Cox (UT), Governor Glenn Youngkin (VA), Governor Jim Justice (WV), and Governor Mark Gordon (WY).