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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (April 16, 2020)
A5 THE ASTORIAN • THuRSdAy, ApRIl 16, 2020 Trump cuts aid to WHO Says not enough done to stop virus pandemic at Trump’s move and warned it could jeopardize efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Philanthro- WASHINGTON — President pists like Bill Gates and Michael Donald Trump said he was cut- Bloomberg joined European and ting off U.S. payments to the World African leaders and health experts Health Organization during the who lined up behind the WHO or coronavirus pandemic, accusing the insisted the U.S. shouldn’t cut off organization of failing to do enough funding at such a critical time. to stop the virus from spreading While Trump pointed to a U.S. when it first surfaced in China. investigation of the U.N. agency, Trump, who had telegraphed his Tedros stopped short of addressing intentions last week, claimed the his complaints directly and said the outbreak could have been contained WHO’s performance in handling at its source and that lives could the outbreak would be reviewed as have been saved had the U.N. health part of a “usual process” to ensure agency done a better job investigat- transparency and accountability. ing the early reports coming out of “We regret the decision of the China. president of the United States to “The WHO failed in its basic order a halt in funding to the World duty and must be held accountable,” Health Organization,” Tedros said. Trump said at a Tuesday briefing. “WHO is reviewing the impact on He said the U.S. would be review- our work of any withdrawal of U.S. ing the WHO’s actions to stop the funding and will work with our part- ners to fill any virus before mak- ing any decision financial gaps we on resuming aid. face.” ‘THE WHO The head “No doubt, FAIlEd IN ITS of the WHO areas for on Wednes- improvement BASIC duTy ANd will be identified day lamented the U.S. deci- and there will be MuST BE HEld sion to halt fund- lessons for all of ACCOuNTABlE.’ us to learn,” he ing for the U.N. agency, prom- added. “But for ising a review President Donald Trump now, our focus of its decisions – my focus – is while sidestep- on stopping this ping Trump’s complaints about its virus and saving lives.” alleged mismanagement, cover-up U.N. Secretary-General Anto- nio Guterres responded to Trump’s and missteps. WHO Director-General Tedros announcement by saying now is Adhanom Ghebreyesus was on the not the time to end support for the defensive after Trump’s announced World Health Organization, call- halt to U.S. funding that has totaled ing the WHO “absolutely criti- nearly a half-billion dollars annually cal” to the global effort to combat in recent years. Trump claimed the COVID-19, the disease caused by WHO had parroted Chinese assur- the coronavirus. ances about how the virus is spread, Guterres said that it is possible failed to obtain virus samples from that different entities read the facts China, and made a “disastrous deci- differently but that the appropri- sion” to oppose travel restrictions as ate time for a review is “once we have finally turned the page on this the outbreak spread. Countries and health experts pandemic.” around the world expressed alarm “But now is not that time,” he By DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated press Alex Brandon/AP Photo President Donald Trump speaks about the coronavirus at the White House on Tuesday. said, adding that it also is not the time to reduce resources for oper- ations at the WHO or any other humanitarian group that is working to combat the virus. The United States contributed nearly $900 million to the WHO’s budget for 2018-19, according to information on the agency’s web- site. That represents one-fifth of its total $4.4 billion budget for those years. The U.S. gave nearly three- fourths of the funds in “specified voluntary contributions” and the rest in “assessed” funding as part of Washington’s commitment to U.N. institutions. A more detailed WHO budget document provided by the U.S. mis- sion in Geneva showed that in 2019, the United States provided $452 million, including nearly $119 mil- lion in assessed funding. In its most recent budget proposal from Febru- ary, the Trump administration called for slashing the U.S. assessed fund- ing contribution to the WHO to $57.9 million. On Tuesday, Trump also said he’s open to some states “reopen- ing” before federal social distanc- ing guidelines expire at the end of month, as he appeared to back off his claim of absolute authority to decide when the time was right to act. Hours after suggesting that the bipartisan concerns of governors about his assertion of power would amount to an insurrection, Trump abruptly reversed course, saying he would leave it to governors to deter- mine the right time and manner to revive activity in their states. Trump said he would be speaking with gov- ernors, probably on Thursday, to discuss his administration’s plans. “The governors are responsible,” Trump said Tuesday. “They have to take charge.” Still, he insisted, “The governors will be very, very respectful of the presidency.” More than 125,000 deaths world- wide, including more than 25,000 in the U.S., have been blamed on the coronavirus, according to Johns Hopkins University. Last week, Trump blasted the WHO for being “China-centric” and alleging that it had “criticized” his ban on travel from China as the COVID-19 outbreak was spreading from the city of Wuhan. The WHO generally takes care not to criticize countries on their national policies, and it was not immediately clear what specific crit- icism Trump was alluding to. Trump himself showed def- erence to China at the beginning stages of the outbreak. “China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus,” he tweeted Jan. 24. “The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!” Asked Tuesday about the appro- priateness of seeking to cut the WHO’s funding in the middle of a worldwide viral outbreak, Trump said the review would last 60 to 90 days. “This is an evaluation period, but in the meantime, we’re putting a hold on all funds going to World Health,” Trump said. He said the U.S. will continue to engage with the WHO in pursuit of “meaningful reforms.” Tractor Tough... Kubota Smart $0 DOWN, 0% A.P.R. 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