The Republican chairman of the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Multilateral Institutions is calling on the World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to testify before the panel on the United Nation-backed organization’s response to coronavirus.
In a letter Thursday to Mr. Tedros, Sen. Todd Young, Indiana Republican, said he intends to press the director general on the United States’ financial contribution to the organization.
“As the largest single contributor to the World Health Organization’s budget, American taxpayers deserve to know the truth about the WHO’s response to COVID-19, so that the world may learn from its mistakes,” Mr. Young wrote.
His letter comes just days after President Trump criticized Mr. Tedros for waiting too long to call the outbreak a pandemic and said he was considering a freeze or cut in U.S. financial support.
The U.S. government provided nearly 15% of WHO’s $5.6 billion budget for 2018 and 2019 — $237 million through assessments and $656 million in voluntary payments, according to Science magazine.
Mr. Tedros, an Ethiopian microbiologist who has been a prime target of U.S. anger, told reporters in a virtual press conference Wednesday that the world cannot afford to be divided at this moment and suggested that Mr. Trump’s threats were misguided and dangerous.
“Please quarantine politicizing COVID,” he said. “The focus should be on fighting this virus.”
Mr. Young explained he intends to convene the hearing “once it is safe to meet.”
• Lauren Toms can be reached at lmeier@washingtontimes.com.
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