JOINT RESOLUTION Providing for membership and participation by the United States in the World Health Organization and authorizing an appropriation therefor

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the President is hereby authorized to accept membership for the United States in the World Health Organization (hereinafter referred to as the Organization), the constitution of which was adopted in New York on July 22, 1946, by the International Health Conference for the establishment of an International Health Organization, and deposited in the archives of the United Nations.

SEC. 2. The President shall designate from time to time to attend a specified session or specified sessions of the World Health Assembly of the Organization not to exceed three delegates of the United States and such number of alternates as he may determine consistent with the rules of procedure of the World Health Assembly. One of the delegates shall be designated as the chief delegate. Whenever the United States becomes entitled to designate a person to serve on the Executive Board of the Organization, under article 24 of the constitution of the Organization, the President shall designate a representative of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and may designate not to exceed one alternate to attend sessions of the Executive Board. Such representative must be a graduate of a recognized medical school and have spent not less than three years in active practice as a physician or surgeon. Such representative shall be entitled to receive compensation at a rate not to exceed $12,000 per annum and any such alternate shall be entitled to receive compensation at a rate not to exceed $10,000 per annum for such period or periods as the President may specify, except that no Member of the Senate or House of Representatives or officer of the United States who is thus designated shall be entitled to receive such compensation:
Provided, That no person shall serve as such representative, delegate, or alternate until such person has been investigated as to loyalty and security by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

SEC. 3. There is hereby authorized to be appropriated annually to the Department of State

(a) such sums, not to exceed $1,920,000 per annum, as may be necessary for the payment by the United States of its share of the expenses of the Organization, including those incurred by the Interim Commission, as apportioned by the Health Assembly in accordance with Article 56 of the Constitution of the Organization; and

(b) such additional sums, not to exceed $83,000 for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 1947, as may be necessary to pay the expenses incident to participation by the United States in the activities of the Organization, including --

(1) salaries of the representative and alternate provided for in section 2 hereof, and appropriate staff, including personal services in the District of Columbia and elsewhere, without regard to the civil-service laws and the Classification Act of 1923, as amended; services as authorized by section 15 of Public Law 600, Seventy-ninth Congress; under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of State may prescribe, allowances for living quarters, including heat, fuel, and light and cost of living allowances to persons temporarily stationed abroad; printing and binding without regard to section 11 of the Act of March 1, 1919 (44 U. S. C. 111), and section 3709 of the Revised Statutes, as amended; and

(2) such other expenses as the Secretary of State deems necessary to participation by the United States in the activities of the Organization:
Provided, That the provisions of section 6 of the Act of July 30, 1946, Public Law 565, Seventy-ninth Congress, and regulations thereunder, applicable to expenses incurred pursuant to that Act shall be applicable to any expenses incurred pursuant to this paragraph (b) (2).

SEC. 4. In adopting this joint resolution the Congress does so with the understanding that, in the absence of any provision in the World Health Organization Constitution for withdrawal from the Organization, the United States reserves its right to withdraw from the Organization on a one-year notice:

Provided, however, That the financial obligations of the United States to the Organization shall be met in full for the Organization's current fiscal year.

SEC. 5. In adopting this joint resolution, the Congress does so with the understanding that nothing in the Constitution of the World Health Organization in any manner commits the United States to enact any specific legislative program regarding any matters referred to in said Constitution.

Approved June 14, 1948.

1 Public Law 643, 80th Cong. 2d sess., S. J. Res.98. Back