House of Representatives - June 14, 2005

Reform the United Nations

Mr. Speaker, 

The American people provide 22 percent of the U.N.'s budget, but the American people cannot impact what happens at the U.N.

For instance, the American people have no ability to force accountability in the billions stolen from the Oil-for-Food program. 

The American people have no way of objecting to the appointing of countries like Syria, Libya, North Korea and Cuba to the Human Rights Commission. 

The American people have no way of pressuring Kofi Annan to resign or force prosecutions of peacekeepers who raped the very people they were ordered to protect.

Today, the U.N. operates with little or no oversight from its member states. 

We have an opportunity to change that with H.R. 2745, which gives the American people the leveraging tool. 

By conditioning 50 percent of our U.N. dues to a series of reforms, the legislation would finally give the American people a voice on things like religious freedom, political oppression and abuses of power that have plagued the U.N. since its earliest days.

I urge support.