Alabama House passes resolution denouncing World Health Organization

Reps. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville (left), and Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, debate a resolution from Butler attacking the World Health Organization on April 11, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. Butler's resolution, which was not adopted on Thursday, accused WHO of being a "corrupt" organization and of covering up the origins of COVID-19. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

An Alabama House resolution condemning the World Health Organization (WHO) passed Thursday after it was initially delayed on a 64-28 vote.

House Joint Resolution No. 113, sponsored by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, encourages the federal government to cease funding and supporting WHO and to reject any international health regulation regarding pandemic preparedness.

“This is simply to encourage Congress to cease funding them. We’ve been funding them hundreds of millions of dollars a year, but they don’t give us any credence,” Butler said on the House floor, claiming that an alleged vote from Congress would give the U.S.’s sovereignty to the WHO.

House Democrats didn’t accept that argument and questioned the motives behind the resolution.

Rep. Laura Hall, D-Huntsville, questioned how an international organization could take control of a sovereign country.

“I’m really serious about trying to understand. My perception of the World Health Organization is not what I’m hearing from you,” she said.

Hall said that it “appeared to be a personal reaction to the concerns that you have.”

Butler said that he doesn’t trust WHO due to its response to the COVID pandemic, claiming that China created the virus in a lab and the international health organization covered it up.

Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, listens to a debate over his resolution calling the World Health Organization “corrupt” in the Alabama House of Representatives on April 11, 2024 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

In February 2023, the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Department of Energy backed the lab leak theory but with “low confidence,” according to PolitiFact. The Federal Bureau for Investigation agreed with the assessment, but other U.S. government agencies say that COVID was released naturally with contact with an infected animal.

“There is not a consensus right now in the U.S. government about exactly how COVID started,” Politifact quoted John Kirby as saying at a Feb. 27, 2023 White House briefing. “There is just not an intelligence community consensus.”

“We could have addressed the issue so much easier if we had known, in my opinion, biological warfare, in my opinion,” Butler said.

Prior to the debate, the House approved a resolution affirming support for Taiwan’s government. Hall questioned how Americans would know if it’s safe to travel outside of the country.

“We are talking about traveling to that area. Now what health organization do you have that would be responsible to make sure that health wise it is going to be okay for that to happen?” she asked.

Rep. Barbara Drummond, D-Mobile, said COVID is proof that one disease affecting one country can spread to another.

“We had thousands and thousands of deaths because of COVID,” she said. “Are you going to put that on them? Because the Trump administration was in control at that time. You know that, right?”

Resolutions often pass in less than a minute, without discussion, but debate on Butler’s resolution lasted for about an hour. House Republicans eventually voted to carry the bill over.

Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, said that if it had not been for WHO, there could have been more deaths throughout the pandemic. 

“When they put out a health order, we want to be the boss. Those days are over. That’s why we have science. That’s why we have doctors,” Jackson said.

This story was updated at 2:01 p.m. to indicate the bill passed after it was delayed.

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