Senator Schmitt Sends Letter to Treasury Secretary Regarding Potential Funding of Pandemic Fund

WASHINGTON – Senator Eric Schmitt has written a letter to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen regarding the Treasury’s goal to allocate $667 million of taxpayer money to The Pandemic Fund – a financial intermediary fund housed by the World Bank and devised by the World Health Organization (WHO):

“I write to you regarding your announcement on July 24th, 2024, committing the United States to providing up to $667 million to support the Pandemic Fund through the fiscal year 2026. This proposal is a blatant waste of taxpayer dollars and a slap in the face to the hardworking citizens of Missouri and The United States,” begins the letter.

“Last week’s ‘commitment’ was yet another brazen attempt to fund unaccountable entities from the American taxpayer’s wallet. To date, the United States has already provided over $450 million towards the $1.2 billion in contributions the Pandemic Fund has received. The highest donation counts by any single-nation,” continues the letter.

“As you opine in your press release, this ‘commitment’ is ‘subject to Congressional appropriations and the availability of funds.’ Indeed, it is, and in no world is this commitment a responsible use of taxpayer dollars.

I send this letter to tell you that I will do everything in my power as a U.S. Senator to block taxpayer dollars going towards this wildly unAmerican and egregious request. I implore you to revoke this wasteful spending and focus on lowering inflation, tackling our $34 trillion debt, and putting America first,” concludes the letter.

BACKGROUND:

• Even after well-documented influence from the CCP, the WHO continues to serve as a technical lead to the fund while chairing the Technical Advisory Panel, which provides guidance to the governing board. 
• The WHO additionally serves as one of, if not the only, implementing agencies for fifteen of the nineteen projects being championed by the Fund. Even more egregious and troubling is the inclusion of members of the CCP on the Pandemic Fund’s governing body, especially given the Biden Administration’s own Director of National Intelligence releasing a report which acknowledges the possibility of a laboratory-associated incident in Wuhan, China as a potential origin of the COVID-19 virus. 
• The report emphasized that “China’s cooperation most likely would be needed to reach a conclusive assessment of the origins of COVID-19,” which the Chinese Communist Party has outright refused and the WHO has been complicit in allowing Beijing to be absolved of its actions.

Read the full letter here.