[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1425 Engrossed in House (EH)]
<DOC>
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 1425
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To require any convention, agreement, or other international instrument
on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response reached by the World
Health Assembly to be subject to Senate ratification.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty
Without Senate Approval Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) On May 18, 2020, President Donald Trump sent a letter
to World Health Organization (referred to in this Act as
``WHO'') Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (referred
to in this Act as the ``Director-General''), announcing that--
(A) United States contributions to WHO would be
halted due its mismanagement of the COVID-19 outbreak
and its lack of independence from the People's Republic
of China; and
(B) the United States would withdraw from WHO if it
did not commit to substantive improvements within 30
days.
(2) President Trump's May 18 letter cited numerous
instances of WHO mismanagement of the COVID-19 pandemic,
including--
(A) unjustified delays informing member states
about a potentially serious disease outbreak in Wuhan,
China; and
(B) repeated grossly inaccurate or misleading
claims about the transmissibility of the virus and
about the Government of China's handling of the
outbreak.
(3) On June 30, 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
formally notified the United Nations of the United States
decision to withdraw from WHO, which would have taken effect on
July 6, 2021, under the terms of a joint resolution adopted by
Congress on June 14, 1948 (Public Law 80-643; 62 Stat. 441).
(4) A Pew Research Center survey conducted in April and May
2020 indicated that 51 percent of Americans felt that WHO had
done a poor or fair job in managing the COVID-19 pandemic.
(5) On January 20, 2021, President Joseph Biden sent United
Nations Director-General Antonio Guterres a letter retracting
the United States notice of withdrawal from WHO.
(6) On December 1, 2021, at the second special session of
the World Health Assembly (referred to in this Act as the
``WHA'') decided--
(A) to establish an intergovernmental negotiating
body (referred to in this section as the ``INB'') to
draft and negotiate a WHO convention (referred to in
this section as the ``Convention''), agreement, or
other international instrument on pandemic prevention,
preparedness, and response, with a view to adoption
under Article 19 or any other provision of the WHO
Constitution; and
(B) that the INB shall submit a progress report to
the Seventy-sixth WHA and a working draft of the
convention for consideration by the Seventy-seventh
WHA, which is scheduled to take place beginning on
March 18, 2024.
(7) On February 24, March 14 and 15, and June 6 through 8
and 15 through 17, 2022, the INB held its inaugural meeting at
which the Director-General proposed the following 5 themes to
guide the INB's work in drafting the Convention:
(A) Building national, regional, and global
capacities based on a whole-of-government and whole-of-
society approach.
(B) Establishing global access and benefit sharing
for all pathogens, and determining a global policy for
the equitable production and distribution of
countermeasures.
(C) Establishing robust systems and tools for
pandemic preparedness and response.
(D) Establishing a long-term plan for sustainable
financing to ensure support for global health threat
management and response systems.
(E) Empowering WHO to fulfill its mandate as the
directing and coordinating authority on international
health work, including for pandemic preparedness and
response.
(8) On July 18 through 22, 2022, the INB held its second
meeting at which it agreed that the Convention would be adopted
under Article 19 of the WHO Constitution and legally binding on
the parties.
(9) On December 5 through 7, 2022, the INB held its third
meeting at which it accepted a conceptual zero draft of the
Convention and agreed to prepare a zero draft for consideration
at the INB's next meeting.
(10) In early January 2023, an initial draft of the
Convention was sent to WHO member states in advance of its
formal introduction at the fourth meeting of the INB, which is
scheduled for February 27 through March 3, 2023. The draft
includes broad and binding provisions, including rules
governing parties' access to pathogen genomic sequences and how
the products or benefits of such access are to be distributed.
(11) Section 723.3 of title 11 of the Department of State's
Foreign Affairs Manual states that when ``determining whether
any international agreement should be brought into force as a
treaty or as an international agreement other than a treaty,
the utmost care is to be exercised to avoid any invasion or
compromise of the constitutional powers of the President, the
Senate, and the Congress as a whole'' and includes the
following criteria to be considered when determining whether an
international agreement should take the form of a treaty or an
executive agreement:
(A) ``The extent to which the agreement involves
commitments or risks affecting the nation as a whole''.
(B) ``Whether the agreement is intended to affect
state laws''.
(C) ``Whether the agreement can be given effect
without the enactment of subsequent legislation by the
Congress''.
(D) ``Past U.S. practice as to similar
agreements''.
(E) ``The preference of the Congress as to a
particular type of agreement''.
(F) ``The degree of formality desired for an
agreement''.
(G) ``The proposed duration of the agreement, the
need for prompt conclusion of an agreement, and the
desirability of concluding a routine or short-term
agreement''.
(H) ``The general international practice as to
similar agreements''.
(12) Article II, Section 2 of the United States
Constitution provides that the President ``shall have Power, by
and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make
Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur''.
(13) Alexander Hamilton writes in Federalist Paper #75
regarding the Treaty Making Powers of the Executive that ``Its
objects are CONTRACTS with foreign nations, which have the
force of law, but derive it from the obligations of good faith.
They are not rules prescribed by the sovereign to the subject,
but agreements between sovereign and sovereign. The power in
question seems therefore to form a distinct department, and to
belong, properly, neither to the legislative nor to the
Executive. The qualities elsewhere detailed as indispensable in
the management of foreign negotiations, point out the Executive
as the most fit agent in those transactions; while the vast
importance of the trust, and the operation of treaties as laws,
plead strongly for the participation of the whole or a portion
of the legislative body in the office of making them''.
(14) If any provisions of a treaty are to have legal
bearing on United States citizens those provisions must pass
both the United States House of Representatives and the Senate
and be presented to the President, as all Federal laws must.
(15) The United States Constitution establishes a clear
framework for making treaties by the Executive and with the
advice and consent of the Senate. This process is indispensable
for the Founders' vision of constitutional government.
(16) The United States House of Representatives does not
vote for, ratify, affirm, or consent to treaties.
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.
It is the policy of the United States to unequivocally support
Taiwan's full participation in the World Health Organization.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) a significant segment of the American public is deeply
skeptical of the World Health Organization, its leadership, and
its independence from the pernicious political influence of
certain member states, including the People's Republic of
China;
(2) Congress strongly prefers that any agreement related to
pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response adopted by the
World Health Assembly pursuant to the work of the INB be
considered a treaty requiring the advice and consent of the
Senate, with two-thirds of Senators concurring;
(3) the scope of the agreement which the INB has been
tasked with drafting, as outlined by the Director-General, is
so broad that any application of the factors referred to in
section 2(11) will weigh strongly in favor of it being
considered a treaty; and
(4) given the level of public distrust, any relevant new
agreement by the World Health Assembly which cannot garner the
two-thirds vote needed for Senate ratification should not be
agreed to or implemented by the United States.
SEC. 5. ANY WORLD HEALTH AGENCY CONVENTION OR AGREEMENT OR OTHER
INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENT RESULTING FROM THE INTERNATIONAL
NEGOTIATING BODY'S FINAL REPORT DEEMED TO BE A TREATY
SUBJECT TO ADVICE AND CONSENT OF THE SENATE.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any convention,
agreement, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention,
preparedness, and response reached by the World Health Assembly
pursuant to the recommendations, report, or work of the International
Negotiating Body established by the second special session of the World
Health Assembly is deemed to be a treaty that is subject to the
requirements of article II, section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution of
the United States, which requires the advice and consent of the Senate,
with two-thirds of Senators concurring.
SEC. 6. NO FORCE OR EFFECT TO TREATY PRIOR TO RATIFICATION.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any convention,
agreement, or other international instrument on pandemic prevention,
preparedness, and response deemed to be a treaty by section 5--
(1) shall have no force or effect under the laws of the
United States before the date on which such treaty is ratified
with the advice and consent of the Senate; and
(2) may not be used, prior to such date, to establish or
demonstrate the existence of a violation of United States law
or an offense against the law of nations in United States
courts, including--
(A) to establish standing, a cause of action, or
damages as a matter of law; or
(B) to demonstrate whether an action by a Federal
agency is arbitrary or capricious, an abuse of
discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law.
Passed the House of Representatives September 11, 2024.
Attest:
Clerk.
118th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 1425
_______________________________________________________________________
AN ACT
To require any convention, agreement, or other international instrument
on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response reached by the World
Health Assembly to be subject to Senate ratification.