[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 50 (Thursday, March 21, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2541-S2542]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 1724. Mr. JOHNSON submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
by him to the bill H.R. 2882, to reauthorize the Morris K. Udall and 
Stewart L. Udall Trust Fund, and for other purposes; which was ordered 
to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place in division F, insert the 
     following:

     SEC. ___. ANY WORLD HEALTH AGENCY CONVENTION OR AGREEMENT OR 
                   OTHER INTERNATIONAL INSTRUMENT RESULTING FROM 
                   THE INTERNATIONAL NEGOTIATING BODY'S FINAL 
                   REPORT DEEMED TO BE A TREATY SUBJECT TO ADVICE 
                   AND CONSENT OF THE SENATE.

       (a) Short Title.--This section may be cited as the ``No WHO 
     Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act''.
       (b) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) On December 1, 2021, at the second special session of 
     the World Health Assembly (referred to in this section as the 
     ``WHA'') decided--
       (A) to establish the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body 
     (referred to in this section as the ``INB'') to draft and 
     negotiate a WHO convention (referred to in this section as 
     the ``Convention''), agreement, or other international 
     instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and 
     response, with a view to adoption under article 19 or any 
     other provision of the WHO Constitution; and
       (B) that the INB shall submit a progress report to the 
     Seventy-sixth WHA and a working draft of the convention for 
     consideration by the Seventy-seventh WHA, which is scheduled 
     to take place beginning on March 18, 2024.
       (2) On February 24, March 14 and 15, and June 6 through 8 
     and 15 through 17, 2022, the INB held its inaugural meeting 
     at which the Director-General proposed the following 5 themes 
     to guide the INB's work in drafting the Convention:
       (A) Building national, regional, and global capacities 
     based on a whole-of-government and whole-of-society approach.
       (B) Establishing global access and benefit sharing for all 
     pathogens, and determining a global policy for the equitable 
     production and distribution of countermeasures.
       (C) Establishing robust systems and tools for pandemic 
     preparedness and response.
       (D) Establishing a long-term plan for sustainable financing 
     to ensure support for global health threat management and 
     response systems.
       (E) Empowering WHO to fulfill its mandate as the directing 
     and coordinating authority on international health work, 
     including for pandemic preparedness and response.
       (3) On July 18 through 22, 2022, the INB held its second 
     meeting at which it agreed that the Convention would be 
     adopted under article 19 of the WHO Constitution and legally 
     binding on the parties.
       (4) On December 5 through 7, 2022, the INB held its third 
     meeting at which it accepted a conceptual zero draft of the 
     Convention and agreed to prepare a zero draft for 
     consideration at the INB's next meeting.
       (5) In early January 2023, an initial draft of the 
     Convention was sent to WHO member states in advance of its 
     formal introduction at the fourth meeting of the INB. The 
     draft includes broad and binding provisions, including rules 
     governing parties' access to pathogen genomic sequences and 
     how the products or benefits of such access are to be 
     distributed.
       (6) On February 27 through March 3, 2023, the INB held its 
     fourth meeting at which it--
       (A) formally agreed to the draft distributed in January as 
     the basis for commencing negotiations; and
       (B) established an April 14, 2023 deadline for member 
     states to propose any changes to the text.
       (7) The INB's draft--
       (A) was circulated to Member States on May 22, 2023; and
       (B) was published online in all WHO official languages on 
     June 2, 2023.
       (8) On March 18 through 28, 2024, the INB is holding its 
     Ninth Meeting at which it will consider an updated draft of 
     the Convention reflecting input from Member States considered 
     during the INB's Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth meetings.
       (9) On May 27 through June 1, 2024, the INB is scheduled to 
     present its final draft of the Convention for consideration 
     at the Seventy-seventh World Health Assembly.
       (10) Section 723.3 of title 11 of the Department of State's 
     Foreign Affairs Manual states that when ``determining whether 
     any international agreement should be brought into force as a 
     treaty or as an international agreement other than a treaty, 
     the utmost care is to be exercised to avoid any invasion or 
     compromise of the constitutional powers of the President, the 
     Senate, and the Congress as a whole'' and includes the 
     following criteria to be considered when determining

[[Page S2542]]

     whether an international agreement should take the form of a 
     treaty or an executive agreement:
       (A) ``The extent to which the agreement involves 
     commitments or risks affecting the nation as a whole''.
       (B) ``Whether the agreement is intended to affect state 
     laws''.
       (C) ``Whether the agreement can be given effect without the 
     enactment of subsequent legislation by the Congress''.
       (D) ``Past U.S. practice as to similar agreements''.
       (E) ``The preference of the Congress as to a particular 
     type of agreement''.
       (F) ``The degree of formality desired for an agreement''.
       (G) ``The proposed duration of the agreement, the need for 
     prompt conclusion of an agreement, and the desirability of 
     concluding a routine or short-term agreement''.
       (H) ``The general international practice as to similar 
     agreements''.
       (c) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate 
     that--
       (1) a significant segment of the American public is deeply 
     skeptical of the World Health Organization, its leadership, 
     and its independence from the pernicious political influence 
     of certain member states, including the People's Republic of 
     China;
       (2) the current draft of the Convention does nothing to 
     address the critical failures in the response to the COVID-19 
     pandemic, particularly regarding--
       (A) the PRC's failure to inform the international community 
     of the outbreak in a timely manner;
       (B) the WHO repeating the PRC's false claim that there was 
     no evidence of human-to-human transmission;
       (C) the PRC's delay in sharing COVID-19's genomic sequence 
     data; and
       (D) the PRC's refusal to allow a thorough investigation of 
     the origins of the outbreak.
       (3) the Senate strongly prefers that any agreement related 
     to pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response adopted by 
     the World Health Assembly pursuant to the work of the INB be 
     considered a treaty requiring the advice and consent of the 
     Senate, with two-thirds of Senators concurring;
       (4) the scope of the agreement which the INB has been 
     tasked with drafting, as outlined by the Director-General, is 
     so broad that any application of the factors referred to in 
     subsection (b)(11) will weigh strongly in favor of it being 
     considered a treaty; and
       (5) given the level of public distrust, any relevant new 
     agreement by the World Health Assembly which cannot garner 
     the \2/3\ vote needed for Senate ratification should not be 
     agreed to or implemented by the United States.
       (d) Applicability of Senate Advice and Consent 
     Constitutional Requirement.--Notwithstanding any other 
     provision of law, any convention, agreement, or other 
     international instrument on pandemic prevention, 
     preparedness, and response reached by the World Health 
     Assembly pursuant to the recommendations, report, or work of 
     the International Negotiating Body established by the second 
     special session of the World Health Assembly is deemed to be 
     a treaty that is subject to the requirements of article II, 
     section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution of the United States, 
     which requires the advice and consent of the Senate, with \2/
     3\ of all Senators concurring.
       (e) Funding Limitation.--No funds appropriated by this 
     division may be used to facilitate the implementation of any 
     convention, agreement, or other international instrument on 
     pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response reached by 
     the WHA.
                                 ______