Yellen under fire from Senate Republican for big-ticket pledge to global Pandemic Fund

EXCLUSIVE — Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s pledge for the United States to dole out hundreds of millions of dollars to the World Bank’s global Pandemic Fund is facing intense scrutiny by a Republican opponent.

Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO), in a letter sent to Yellen on Wednesday and first viewed by the Washington Examiner, accused the Biden Cabinet official of promulgating a proposal that is a “blatant waste of taxpayer dollars and a slap in the face” to Americans.

Last month, during the G20 world finance leaders’ meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Yellen committed that the U.S. will provide up to $667 million through 2026 as part of a broader $2 billion goal to raise money from developed nations for future pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response in low- and middle-income countries. Yellen’s pledge would mean the U.S. would have to provide another $217 million by the target date, as the U.S. has already provided $450 million.

Schmitt assailed the commitment as “yet another brazen attempt to fund unaccountable entities from the American taxpayer’s wallet.”

“In no world is this commitment a responsible use of taxpayer dollars,” he added.

The Department of the Treasury did not respond to a request for comment.

The money is anything but a done deal, however, despite Yellen’s vow. The funds are subject to congressional approval and face long odds in a divided Congress, amid GOP opposition, and in the run-up to the November elections. Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) is among the House Republicans who, earlier this year, described the World Health Organization’s “pandemic treaty” as an “infringement” on national sovereignty.

Yellen hopes the U.S. pledge will spur other countries to double their initial commitments and for new donors to take part, including governments, the private sector, and philanthropies.

She said in a statement last month that the Pandemic Fund “will enable us to better prevent, prepare for, and respond to pandemics — protecting Americans and people around the world from the devastating human and economic costs of infectious disease threats.”

The fund was established in 2022 in the wake of COVID-19. In 2023, it delved out $338 million in its first round of grants to 37 countries. A second round of $500 million is expected to be released by the year’s end for new applicants, according to the treasury.

Countries and philanthropies have so far pledged to donate more than $1.6 billion, according to the fund, with the U.S. having committed the highest amount and having provided the largest single-nation donation.

Schmitt cited concerns about WHO’s involvement in the fund and its role in helping to determine who the money is distributed to due to its handling of both the pandemic and China’s role. He also chastised “wide-scale government overreach” of pandemic-era mandates and restrictions in the U.S.

“These brutal measures were encouraged and developed by international entities like the WHO, which has refused to hold the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) accountable for its responsibility in the origins of the COVID-19 virus,” Schmitt wrote to Yellen. “Now you are coming to citizens asking them for billions more to fund an even larger international scale operation of suppression and control for the next hypothetical pandemic.”