Trump Sends Funds Meant for Pro-Abortion WHO to Samaritan’s Purse, Red Cross to Fight Coronavirus
Steven Ertelt
Apr 17, 2020 | 9:11AM Washington, DC

Earlier this week, President Donald Trump halted federal taxpayer funding for the WHO, the international agency that has botched its response to the coronavirus.

WHO has been accused of lying to the world about the coronavirus, defending Chinese propaganda about its origins, and it has come under fire for saying killing babies in abortions is somehow an essential procedure as the world deals with the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. will halt monetary contributions to the World Health Organization while the administration reviews the mistakes it made managing the pandemic.

Now, president Trump has announced where the funds will be going instead — to two organizations fighting the coronavirus: Samaritan’s Purse and the Red Cross.

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The White House budget office has told federal agencies to redirect World Health Organization funds to groups that do similar work, indicating a 60-day suspension of WHO funding ordered by President Trump will be permanent.

The funds will flow instead to outfits such as the Red Cross and Samaritan’s Purse after Trump said Tuesday the WHO needed reform after failing to vet coronavirus data from China, contributing to a pandemic that infected more than 650,000 US residents.

The US provided roughly 10 percent of the WHO’s $4.8 billion annual budget. Most US contributions were “voluntary.” Annual US dues were just $58 million, with the next installment not expected until September.

An administration official told The Post that efforts were underway to redirect “every single pot of money” from the WHO to other organizations. Large international relief organizations already are in many cases doing similar work, they said.

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The funding battle is likely not over, as Democrats will likely challenge Trump and attempt to stick WHO funding in future spending bills.

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday vowed to challenge what she called Trump’s “illegal” suspension of WHO funds but did not specify how. The White House argues there’s no legal obligation to fund the WHO.

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But White House officials defended Trump’s decision:

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“If you pay a contractor to build you a house and the roof falls in, you don’t keep paying them, you find a new contractor,” the official told the Daily Caller. “WHO clearly failed to do its job, and continues to make serious mistakes that puts our nation’s safety and security at risk, including allowing the reopening of wet markets. It shouldn’t be controversial for the U.S. to want to partner with international organizations that will actually protect international health.”

China, who started the pandemic, ponied up a paltry $20 million,” a senior Trump administration official told The Post. “They refuse to pay even 3 percent into the world fund to respond to the virus that their own actions caused to spread rapidly outside of their country. That’s shocking and a disgrace.”

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“With the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have deep concerns whether America’s generosity has been put to the best use possible,” Trump said during his daily White House briefing where he announced the WHO funding cut.

“Our country will be forced to find other ways to work with other nations to achieve public health goals,” he said.

“The reality is that the WHO failed to adequately obtain, vet, and share information in a timely and transparent fashion,” he said.

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https://www.lifenews.com/2020/04/17/trum...ht-coronavirus/