House refuses to reduce U.S. debt payment to UN

Human Events, Sep 18, 1998

On August 5, by a vote of 165 to 261, the House rejected an amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations bill (HR 4276) by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R.-Fla.) that would have reduced appropriations for the U.S. debt payments to the United Nations by $109 million.

After an earlier amendment to remove all repayment appropriations failed by a vote of 151 to 279, Stearns offered this more modest proposal, which amounted to striking less than 25% of the money requested by the Committee on Appropriations. His $109-million figure came from the UN's own admission that it owes the United States that amount in reimbursement for U.S. contributions to peacekeeping missions.

Stearns stated, "My problem with the United Nations is its refusal to implement reforms, although the U.S. has been breathing down its neck for some time:'

He argued that reducing U.S. payments to the UN would "continue sending to the secretary general and the rest of the United Nations a message that dramatic, widespread reform has to be implemented, including significant bureaucratic staff cuts and budget reductions:'

"This amendment is not about UN reform," Rep. Nita Lowey (D.-N.Y.) retorted. "This amendment is simply about blocking the United States from fulfilling its financial obligations to the UN:' She argued that even without the deduction called for by Stearns' amendment, $475 million in appropriations for UN funding is "woefully inadequate:' Lowey claimed that the UN serves U.S. Interests, but that our "level of influence is rapidly decreasing" and that "our debt is making it hard for the organization to carry out its activities."

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D.-W.Va.) joined Lowey in opposing the amendment, arguing that UN reform is actually underway and that cutting appropriations would undermine that process. "We have been pretty darn successful in moving a large organization in the right direction," Mollohan said. "I think this effort to cut the appropriation, which is the very incentive to affect these reforms, is the exact wrong thing to do."

Stearns replied that while Secretary General Kofi Annan talks about overhauling the UN, actually there have been no cutbacks in either personnel or payouts. He cited one example in which the secretary general consolidated 12 departments into five as part of a reorganization plan and did nothing to reduce the number of employees. "No reduction in people, no reduction in expenditures, and he calls that reform," Stearns said. "Any of the Fortune 500 companies who did that would be laughed out of the convention center by their stockholders."

In spite of its comparably moderate cut, Stearns' amendment was still unsuccessful. Sixtynine Republicans voted against the measure, and only ten Democrats voted for it.

A "yes" vote is a vote in favor of the amendment to the Commerce, Justice, State Appropriations bill that would have reduced appropriations for the U.S. debt payments to the United Nations by $109 million. A "no" vote is a vote against the amendment.