Should Congress restore funding for a number of areas, including the World Health Organization, State Department, Veterans Affairs, and more?

Foreign Affairs/Relations Government Operations (e.g., Election Laws) Health
Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2021 (H.R.7608)
This bill has Passed the House of Representatives
Bill Summary

This bill is an appropriations minibus bill that covers foreign affairs, agricultural and rural development, the interior and environment, military construction, and veteran affairs. A major point of contention in this bill is a Congressional restoration of World Health Organization (WHO) funds that Trump had withdrawn on July 7, 2020 by withdrawing the US from the WHO formally. The US is the WHO’s largest contributor and provides 15% of its funding. Other notable highlights of this extensive bill include blocking a US policy of denying funding to international organizations that provide or recommend abortions (the Mexico City policy), overturning the Trump administration’s State Department hiring freeze, increasing appropriations past Presidential requests for international food security programs, domestic environmental protection, combatting international emissions with aid, and improving rural infrastructure including programs for clean water and better broadband. Furthermore, the bill increases Veterans Affairs funding and military infrastructure funding, but ensures that no funds can be used for the border wall. Sponsor: Representative Nita Lowey (Democrat, New York, District 17)
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Opponents say

• "Chinese officials ignored their reporting obligations to the World Health Organization and pressured the World Health Organization to mislead the world when the virus was first discovered by Chinese authorities." Source: President Donald Trump (Republican)
• "[The WHO] failed us. It’s not the first time the WHO has failed the world in the time of a pandemic. You can’t go back to business as usual; we’ve got to fix it." Source: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (Republican)
• "We have detailed the reforms that [the WHO] must make and engaged with them directly, but they have refused to act...Because they have failed to make the requested and greatly needed reforms, we will be today terminating our relationship with the World Health Organization and redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs." Source: President Donald Trump (Republican)
• "It is my conviction that taxpayer funds should not be used to pay for abortions or advocate or actively promote abortion, either here or abroad...It is therefore my belief that the Mexico City Policy should be restored." Source: President George W. Bush (Republican)

Proponents say

• "What [withdrawing from the WHO] will do is rupture global vaccine programs, polio eradication, Ebola response, and a thousand other global health tasks that the U.S. relies on WHO to deliver" Source: Jeremy Konyndyk (Center for Global Development)
• "Not wanting to take responsibility as the deaths continue to mount, he blames others...WHO could have been more assertive with China and declared a global health emergency sooner, but it is performing an essential function and needs our strong support, especially now." Source: Senator Patrick Leahy (Democrat, Vermont)
• "I disagree with the president's decision. Certainly there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it" Source: Senator Lamar Alexander (Republican, Tennessee)
• "[China] will now leap into the void created by the United States withdrawal from the WHO, and seek to become the world’s go-to power for global health. China will now write the global public health rules, not the United States. What a nightmare." Source: Senator Chris Murphy (Democrat, Connecticut)
• "[T]hese excessively broad anti-abortion conditions are unwarranted… [The Mexico City Policy] undermine[s] efforts to promote safe and efficacious family planning programs in foreign nations." Source: President Bill Clinton (Democrat)
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