Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi blasted President Trump’s “dangerous” decision to freeze funding for the World Health Organization, vowing Wednesday to “swiftly” challenge the action amid the coronavirus crisis.
In a statement, Nancy Pelosi said the halt in funding amid the global pandemic “is senseless.”
“This is another case, as I have said, of the president’s ineffective response, that ‘a weak person, a poor leader, takes no responsibility. A weak person blames others,’” Pelosi said.
“This decision is dangerous, illegal and will be swiftly challenged,” Pelosi said, as Fox News reported.
“We can only be successful in defeating this global pandemic through a coordinated international response with respect for science and data,” she continued. “But sadly, as he has since Day One, the president is ignoring global health experts, disregarding science and undermining the heroes fighting on the frontline, at great risk to the lives and livelihoods of Americans and people around the world.”
Pelosi’s remarks come after President Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. would immediately halt funding for the health organization, saying it had put “political correctness over lifesaving measures,” noting that the U.S. would undertake a 60-to-90 day investigation into why the “China-centric” WHO had caused “so much death” by “severely mismanaging and covering up” the coronavirus spread.
The U.S. is the WHO’s largest single donor, and the State Department had previously planned to provide the agency $893 million in the current two-year funding period.
President Trump said the United States contributes roughly $400 million to $500 million per year to WHO, while China offers only about $40 million. The money saved will go to areas that “most need it,” President Trump asserted.