WASHINGTON  -  U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) today joined a majority of her colleagues in voting for H.R. 2745, the UN Reform Act of 2005, which passed in the U.S. House of Representatives by a margin of 221-184.  The measure threatens to cut U.S. dues to the UN unless meaningful reforms are implemented in the next two years, including establishment of a code of conduct, creation of an independent auditing agent within the UN and a strengthened arm of the UN to investigate the development of nuclear weapons.

 

“If our nation is judged by the company it keeps in the world community, the UN is not the best place to be,” Emerson said.  “American tax dollars are going to an organization that makes more headlines with scandals than with the peacekeeping, humanitarian work it was commissioned to do.”

 

“I feel very strongly that U.S. membership and participation in the UN should not infringe on the right of our nation to defend itself or seek diplomatic solutions to international problems,”  Emerson said.  “This bill would address many of my concerns with the integrity of the institution, such as allegations of rape and sexual abuse by UN peacekeeping troops, the UN Oil-for-Food scandal’s connection to Kofi Annan, and the fact that a nation that sponsors genocide, the Sudan, is on the UN Commission on Human Rights while the U.S. is being removed from it.”

 

The bill, offered by Rep. Henry Hyde (IL-06), would reduce U.S. dues payments to the UN by half if the conditions laid out in the bill are not met by 2007.