Congress slashes funds to the UN.

news.yahoo.com...

WASHINGTON - Culminating years of frustration with the performance and behavior of the United Nations, the House voted Friday to slash U.S. contributions to the world body if it does not substantially change the way it operates.

The 221-184 vote, which came despite a Bush administration warning that such a move could actually sabotage reform efforts, was a strong signal from Congress that a policy of persuasion wasn't enough to straighten out the U.N.

"We have had enough waivers, enough resolutions, enough statements," said House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, R-Ill., the author of the legislation. "It's time we had some teeth in reform."

The legislation would withhold half of U.S. dues to the U.N.'s general budget if the organization did not meet a list of demands for change. Failure to comply would also result in U.S. refusal to support expanded and new peacekeeping missions. The bill's prospects in the Senate are uncertain.

Just prior to the final vote, the House rejected, 216-190, an alternative offered by the top Democrat on the International Relations Committee, Tom Lantos of California, that also would have outlined U.N. reforms but would have left it to the discretion of the secretary of state whether to withhold U.S. payments.

During the two days of debate, legislators discussed the seating of such human rights abusers as Cuba and Sudan on the U.N. Commission on Human Rights and the oil-for-food program that became a source of up to $10 billion in illicit revenue for former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

it looks like everything is goin against the Bush Administrations. Do anithing against the UN and u hurt Bush.

Originally posted by deltaboy
it looks like everything is goin against the Bush Administrations. Do anithing against the UN and u hurt Bush.

I don't follow...

Originally posted by junglejake

Originally posted by deltaboy
it looks like everything is goin against the Bush Administrations. Do anithing against the UN and u hurt Bush.

I don't follow...

"The administration on Thursday had urged the Republican-led House to reconsider the legislation. The administration said in a statement that it is actively engaged in U.N. reform, and the Hyde bill "could detract from and undermine our efforts."

"The 221-184 vote, which came despite a Bush administration warning that such a move could actually sabotage reform efforts, was a strong signal from Congress that a policy of persuasion wasn't enough to straighten out the U.N"


voting against funding for the UN will definitely hurt the Bush Adminstration's agenda. u get it now?

Research a bit.

The U.S. owes the U.N. about 1.5 Billion dollars in back pay, and they are regularly delinquent in their payment (from the richest country in the world, tsk tsk)

For more than twenty years, the United States has been regularly delinquent in the payment of its annual assessed contributions to the United Nations and its agencies. US contributions are often ten or more months late owing to the government's practice of seeking congressional appropriation of the funds after the date on which they are actually due; the result is payment of US assessments in the final months of the organizations' budget year.

www.unausa.org...

So I'm sure they're not exactly freaking out about this.


jako

yeah tsk tsk, Congress just likes to drag their feet. poor Bush he's getting all the blame.

Appointing John Bolton and significantly slashing funds to the UN is a terrific way to express......

I *burp* you

Yay* Yay* Yay* Jumps up and down*.

Now the only thing left is to pass legislation to kick the out of New York and put them somewhere else.

The U.S. taxpayers pay billions of dollars to keep the U.N. running we pay the very people that are trying to undermine us and the very people that put out soldiers in danger wit the Oil for Food scandal.