<\/p>\n
by Berkeley Lovelace Jr. & Noah Higgins-Dunn
\nCNBC<\/p>\n
The U.S. will suspend funding to the World Health Organization while it reviews the agency\u2019s response to the Covid-19 pandemic,\u00a0President Donald Trump announced Tuesday, saying the international health agency\u00a0made mistakes that \u201ccaused so much death\u201d as the coronavirus spread across the globe.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday I\u2019m instructing my administration to halt funding of the World Health Organization while a review is conducted to assess the World Health Organization\u2019s role in severely mismanaging and covering up the spread of the coronavirus,\u201d Trump said at a White House press conference.<\/p>\n
Trump criticized the international agency\u2019s response to the outbreak, saying\u00a0\u201cone of the most dangerous and costly decisions from the WHO was its disastrous decision to oppose travel restrictions from China and other nations\u201d that Trump imposed early on in the outbreak.<\/p>\n
\u201cFortunately, I was not convinced and suspended travel from China saving untold numbers of lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s unclear exactly what mechanism Trump intends to use to withhold WHO funding, much of which is appropriated by Congress. The president typically does not have the authority to unilaterally redirect congressional funding.<\/p>\n
One option might be for Trump to use powers granted to the president under the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Under this statute, the president may propose to withhold congressional funds, but it requires congressional approval within 45 days. Absent this approval, the funds must be returned to their original, congressionally mandated purpose after 45 days.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
When asked by reporters why the administration is choosing now to withhold funds, Trump said the U.S. has had problems with WHO \u201cfor years\u201d and the nation should have done this \u201ca long time ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the administration will conduct a \u201cthorough\u201d investigation that should last 60 to 90 days.<\/p>\n
Trump said it wasn\u2019t about the money, \u201cbut it\u2019s not right. So we\u2019ll see,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is an evaluation period, but in the meantime, we\u2019re putting a hold on all funds going to World Health. We\u2019ll be able to take that money and channel it to the areas that most need it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The WHO didn\u2019t immediately return CNBC\u2019s request for comment. But in a statement,\u00a0UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said that now is not the time to reduce resources in the fight against Covid-19.<\/p>\n
He said there will come a time after the epidemic is over, to look back and understand how the disease emerged and spread its devastation so quickly, \u201cbut now is not that time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is also not the time to reduce the resources for the operations of the World Health Organization or any other humanitarian organization in the fight against the virus,\u201d\u00a0Guterres said.<\/p>\n
The coronavirus, which emerged in Wuhan, China over three months ago, has infected more than 1.9 million people worldwide and killed at least 125,678 as of Tuesday night, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.<\/p>\n
Trump had first threatened last week to withhold funds from WHO, saying it pushed back\u00a0on his travel ban from China early in the Covid-19 outbreak. He claimed Tuesday that WHO \u201cpushed China\u2019s misinformation about the virus, saying it wasn\u2019t communicable and there was no need for travel bans.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe WHO willingly took China\u2019s assurances at face value, and they willingly took it at face value and defended the actions of the Chinese government even while praising China for its so-called transparency,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think so.\u201d<\/p>\n
WHO started sounding the alarm on the outbreak of a new coronavirus in China, in mid-January, designating the now\u00a0Covid-19 pandemic as a global health emergency on Jan. 30<\/a>\u00a0when there were just 8,200 cases in 18 countries across the world.<\/p>\n The WHO\u2019s global emergency declaration on Jan. 30 was nearly a month before Trump tweeted that \u201cThe Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA\u201d and six weeks before\u00a0he declared a national emergency on March 13.<\/a><\/p>\n