On Tuesday, the United States formally withdrew from the World Health Organization (WHO), fulfilling the president’s May 29 announcement of terminating the relationship. Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations released its 2021 draft foreign aid bill, which if passed, would result in $200 million in renewed funding for the WHO.
This contradiction shows the divide surrounding the withdrawal. With the official U.S. statement of termination having now gone to the United Nations secretary general, it is clear that the appropriations bill will encounter a logistical dead end—can you give money to an organization to which you no longer even belong?
