To prohibit the use of funds to seek membership in the World Health Organization or to provide assessed or voluntary contributions to the World Health Organization.
Have a question about what this bill does? Ask in plain English; the answer is drawn from the bill's actual text and official record, and it'll tell you when something isn't in the text rather than guess.
This bill prohibits the use of federal funds to seek U.S. membership in the World Health Organization (WHO), or to make contributions to the WHO, until the President makes certain certifications to Congress.
Specifically, the prohibition shall apply until the President certifies that the WHO (1) has adopted reforms to ensure that humanitarian assistance is not politicized; (2) is not under the control of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and is not involved in a cover-up of the CCP's response to the COVID-19 (i.e., coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic; (3) has granted observer status to Taiwan; (4) does not divert humanitarian or medical supplies to Iran, North Korea, or Syria; and (5) has put in place mechanisms to increase transparency and eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse.
Referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
- Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 497: To prohibit the use of funds to seek membership in the World Health Organization or to provide assessed or voluntary contributions to the World Health Organization.. 117th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/117-HR-497/
"H.R. 497: To prohibit the use of funds to seek membership in the World Health Organization or to provide assessed or voluntary contributions to the World Health Organization.." 117th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/117-HR-497/.
H.R. 497, 117th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/117-HR-497/.
[H.R. 497: To prohibit the use of funds to seek membership in the World Health Organization or to provide assessed or voluntary contributions to the World Health Organization.](https://openamerica.io/bill/117-HR-497/)