IIB 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1425 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2024 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No WHO Pandemic 

3 Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) On May 18, 2020, President Donald Trump 

7 sent a letter to World Health Organization (referred 

8 to in this Act as ‘‘WHO’’) Director-General Tedros 

9 Adhanom Ghebreyesus (referred to in this Act as the 

10 ‘‘Director-General’’), announcing that— 

11 (A) United States contributions to WHO 

12 would be halted due its mismanagement of the 

13 COVID–19 outbreak and its lack of independ14 ence from the People’s Republic of China; and 

15 (B) the United States would withdraw 

16 from WHO if it did not commit to substantive 

17 improvements within 30 days. 

18 (2) President Trump’s May 18 letter cited nu19 merous instances of WHO mismanagement of the 

20 COVID–19 pandemic, including— 

21 (A) unjustified delays informing member 

22 states about a potentially serious disease out23 break in Wuhan, China; and 

24 (B) repeated grossly inaccurate or mis25 leading claims about the transmissibility of the 


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1 virus and about the Government of China’s 

2 handling of the outbreak. 

3 (3) On June 30, 2020, Secretary of State Mike 

4 Pompeo formally notified the United Nations of the 

5 United States decision to withdraw from WHO, 

6 which would have taken effect on July 6, 2021, 

7 under the terms of a joint resolution adopted by 

8 Congress on June 14, 1948 (Public Law 80–643; 62 

9 Stat. 441). 

10 (4) A Pew Research Center survey conducted in 

11 April and May 2020 indicated that 51 percent of 

12 Americans felt that WHO had done a poor or fair 

13 job in managing the COVID–19 pandemic. 

14 (5) On January 20, 2021, President Joseph 

15 Biden sent United Nations Director-General Anto ́nio 

16 Guterres a letter retracting the United States notice 

17 of withdrawal from WHO. 

18 (6) On December 1, 2021, at the second special 

19 session of the World Health Assembly (referred to in 

20 this Act as the ‘‘WHA’’) decided— 

21 (A) to establish an intergovernmental ne22 gotiating body (referred to in this section as the 

23 ‘‘INB’’) to draft and negotiate a WHO conven24 tion (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Conven25 tion’’), agreement, or other international instruVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Sep 18, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1425.RFS H1425

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1 ment on pandemic prevention, preparedness, 

2 and response, with a view to adoption under Ar3 ticle 19 or any other provision of the WHO 

4 Constitution; and 

5 (B) that the INB shall submit a progress 

6 report to the Seventy-sixth WHA and a working 

7 draft of the convention for consideration by the 

8 Seventy-seventh WHA, which is scheduled to 

9 take place beginning on March 18, 2024. 

10 (7) On February 24, March 14 and 15, and 

11 June 6 through 8 and 15 through 17, 2022, the 

12 INB held its inaugural meeting at which the Direc13 tor-General proposed the following 5 themes to guide 

14 the INB’s work in drafting the Convention: 

15 (A) Building national, regional, and global 

16 capacities based on a whole-of-government and 

17 whole-of-society approach. 

18 (B) Establishing global access and benefit 

19 sharing for all pathogens, and determining a 

20 global policy for the equitable production and 

21 distribution of countermeasures. 

22 (C) Establishing robust systems and tools 

23 for pandemic preparedness and response. 

24 (D) Establishing a long-term plan for sus25 tainable financing to ensure support for global 


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1 health threat management and response sys2 tems. 

3 (E) Empowering WHO to fulfill its man4 date as the directing and coordinating authority 

5 on international health work, including for pan6 demic preparedness and response. 

7 (8) On July 18 through 22, 2022, the INB held 

8 its second meeting at which it agreed that the Con9 vention would be adopted under Article 19 of the 

10 WHO Constitution and legally binding on the par11 ties. 

12 (9) On December 5 through 7, 2022, the INB 

13 held its third meeting at which it accepted a concep14 tual zero draft of the Convention and agreed to pre15 pare a zero draft for consideration at the INB’s next 

16 meeting. 

17 (10) In early January 2023, an initial draft of 

18 the Convention was sent to WHO member states in 

19 advance of its formal introduction at the fourth 

20 meeting of the INB, which is scheduled for February 

21 27 through March 3, 2023. The draft includes broad 

22 and binding provisions, including rules governing 

23 parties’ access to pathogen genomic sequences and 

24 how the products or benefits of such access are to 

25 be distributed. 


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1 (11) Section 723.3 of title 11 of the Depart2 ment of State’s Foreign Affairs Manual states that 

3 when ‘‘determining whether any international agree4 ment should be brought into force as a treaty or as 

5 an international agreement other than a treaty, the 

6 utmost care is to be exercised to avoid any invasion 

7 or compromise of the constitutional powers of the 

8 President, the Senate, and the Congress as a whole’’ 

9 and includes the following criteria to be considered 

10 when determining whether an international agree11 ment should take the form of a treaty or an execu12 tive agreement: 

13 (A) ‘‘The extent to which the agreement 

14 involves commitments or risks affecting the na15 tion as a whole’’. 

16 (B) ‘‘Whether the agreement is intended to 

17 affect state laws’’. 

18 (C) ‘‘Whether the agreement can be given 

19 effect without the enactment of subsequent leg20 islation by the Congress’’. 

21 (D) ‘‘Past U.S. practice as to similar 

22 agreements’’. 

23 (E) ‘‘The preference of the Congress as to 

24 a particular type of agreement’’. 


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1 (F) ‘‘The degree of formality desired for 

2 an agreement’’. 

3 (G) ‘‘The proposed duration of the agree4 ment, the need for prompt conclusion of an 

5 agreement, and the desirability of concluding a 

6 routine or short-term agreement’’. 

7 (H) ‘‘The general international practice as 

8 to similar agreements’’. 

9 (12) Article II, Section 2 of the United States 

10 Constitution provides that the President ‘‘shall have 

11 Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the 

12 Senate, to make Treaties, provided two-thirds of the 

13 Senators present concur’’. 

14 (13) Alexander Hamilton writes in Federalist 

15 Paper #75 regarding the Treaty Making Powers of 

16 the Executive that ‘‘Its objects are CONTRACTS 

17 with foreign nations, which have the force of law, 

18 but derive it from the obligations of good faith. They 

19 are not rules prescribed by the sovereign to the sub20 ject, but agreements between sovereign and sov21 ereign. The power in question seems therefore to 

22 form a distinct department, and to belong, properly, 

23 neither to the legislative nor to the Executive. The 

24 qualities elsewhere detailed as indispensable in the 

25 management of foreign negotiations, point out the 


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1 Executive as the most fit agent in those trans2 actions; while the vast importance of the trust, and 

3 the operation of treaties as laws, plead strongly for 

4 the participation of the whole or a portion of the leg5 islative body in the office of making them’’. 

6 (14) If any provisions of a treaty are to have 

7 legal bearing on United States citizens those provi8 sions must pass both the United States House of 

9 Representatives and the Senate and be presented to 

10 the President, as all Federal laws must. 

11 (15) The United States Constitution establishes 

12 a clear framework for making treaties by the Execu13 tive and with the advice and consent of the Senate. 

14 This process is indispensable for the Founders’ vi15 sion of constitutional government. 

16 (16) The United States House of Representa17 tives does not vote for, ratify, affirm, or consent to 

18 treaties. 

19 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

20 It is the policy of the United States to unequivocally 

21 support Taiwan’s full participation in the World Health 

22 Organization. 

23 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

24 It is the sense of Congress that— 


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1 (1) a significant segment of the American pub2 lic is deeply skeptical of the World Health Organiza3 tion, its leadership, and its independence from the 

4 pernicious political influence of certain member 

5 states, including the People’s Republic of China; 

6 (2) Congress strongly prefers that any agree7 ment related to pandemic prevention, preparedness, 

8 and response adopted by the World Health Assembly 

9 pursuant to the work of the INB be considered a 

10 treaty requiring the advice and consent of the Sen11 ate, with two-thirds of Senators concurring; 

12 (3) the scope of the agreement which the INB 

13 has been tasked with drafting, as outlined by the Di14 rector-General, is so broad that any application of 

15 the factors referred to in section 2(11) will weigh 

16 strongly in favor of it being considered a treaty; and 

17 (4) given the level of public distrust, any rel18 evant new agreement by the World Health Assembly 

19 which cannot garner the two-thirds vote needed for 

20 Senate ratification should not be agreed to or imple21 mented by the United States. 


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1 SEC. 5. ANY WORLD HEALTH AGENCY CONVENTION OR 

2 AGREEMENT OR OTHER INTERNATIONAL IN3 STRUMENT RESULTING FROM THE INTER4 NATIONAL NEGOTIATING BODY’S FINAL RE5 PORT DEEMED TO BE A TREATY SUBJECT TO 

6 ADVICE AND CONSENT OF THE SENATE. 

7 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any con8 vention, agreement, or other international instrument on 

9 pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response reached 

10 by the World Health Assembly pursuant to the rec11 ommendations, report, or work of the International Nego12 tiating Body established by the second special session of 

13 the World Health Assembly is deemed to be a treaty that 

14 is subject to the requirements of article II, section 2, 

15 clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States, which 

16 requires the advice and consent of the Senate, with two17 thirds of Senators concurring. 

18 SEC. 6. NO FORCE OR EFFECT TO TREATY PRIOR TO RATI19 FICATION. 

20 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any con21 vention, agreement, or other international instrument on 

22 pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response deemed 

23 to be a treaty by section 5— 

24 (1) shall have no force or effect under the laws 

25 of the United States before the date on which such 


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1 treaty is ratified with the advice and consent of the 

2 Senate; and 

3 (2) may not be used, prior to such date, to es4 tablish or demonstrate the existence of a violation of 

5 United States law or an offense against the law of 

6 nations in United States courts, including— 

7 (A) to establish standing, a cause of ac8 tion, or damages as a matter of law; or 

9 (B) to demonstrate whether an action by a 

10 Federal agency is arbitrary or capricious, an 

11 abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accord12 ance with law. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 11, 

2024. 

Attest: KEVIN F. MCCUMBER, 

Clerk. 


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