Tennessee State Senator Mark Pody (R-Lebanon) said he is working on drafting legislation to file during the next legislative session of the Tennessee General Assembly that would unbind the State of Tennessee from any policies created or pushed by the World Health Organization (WHO).
“[The U.S.] has actually gone into some agreements with the [WHO] as President Biden had signed a treaty earlier this year,” Pody explained on Thursday’s edition of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
In 2023, the Biden administration announced that it had agreed to work with WHO and other WHO Member States to “strengthen pandemic prevention, preparedness and response” in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Biden administration’s work with the WHO comes after the Trump administration had moved to withdraw the U.S. from being a Member State of the organization, accusing it of being too close with China.
Earlier this year, Pody (pictured above) led a resolution in the Tennessee Senate that opposed the United States’ participation in the WHO Pandemic Prevention Preparedness and Response Accord.
The resolution passed the Senate by a 26-4 vote.
However, Pody said he is currently working on drafting legislation that would actually unbound the State of Tennessee from having to abide by any policies coming out of the WHO.
“We’re going to be drafting a piece of legislation saying that no matter what the World Health Organization says, we don’t want them to have any binding or legal authority here in Tennessee,” Pody explained.
“I’ve got to tell you, constitutionally just looking at the 10th Amendment, I don’t see where the president can do an executive order to authorize a foreign entity to tell us what our health should be. That’s not right,” Pody added.
Pody said the legislation would show that Tennessee is defending its state rights over what he is calling “federal overreach.”
“It is up to the states to defend their rights and to push back the way that they need to against this federal overreach. If we don’t do it, if we just bow down to them, they’re going to continue to overreach every single time that they can,” Pody said.
“The states, when [the Constitution] was formed, were supposed to be the power. We’re supposed to be the ones setting the rules. We’re the ones that defined what the federal government can do. We have better stand up and make sure that we enforce those definitions,” Pody added.
Pody, who said he is currently working with attorneys hired by the General Assembly to draft the anti-WHO legislation, said he believes his bill, upon introduction, will be “one of the strongest bills to push back to the federal government.”
“The 10th Amendment has to be stood up for and this is a bill that I think is going to be one of the strongest bills to push back to the federal government. We’ve got to be making strong statements here,” Pody said.
Watch the full interview:
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Sen. Mark Pody” by Mark Pody. Background Photo “World Health Organization” by World Health Organization (WHO).
