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“LIMITATION ON PER COUNTRY SHARE OF ASSESSMENTS FOR UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS” mentioning the U.S. Dept of State was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H5941-H5943 on Sept. 24, 2001.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
LIMITATION ON PER COUNTRY SHARE OF ASSESSMENTS FOR UNITED NATIONS
PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS
Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill (S. 248) to amend the Admiral James W. Nance and Meg Donovan Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2000 and 2001, to adjust a condition on the payment of arrearages to the United Nations that sets the maximum share of any United Nations peacekeeping operation's budget that may be assessed of any country.
The Clerk read as follows:
S. 248
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. LIMITATION ON THE PER COUNTRY SHARE OF ASSESSMENTS
FOR UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS.
(a) In General.--Section 931(b)(2) of the Admiral James W. Nance and Meg Donovan Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 2000 and 2001 (as enacted by section 1000(a)(7) of Public Law 106-113 and contained in appendix G of that Act; 113 Stat. 1501A-480) is amended by striking ``25 percent'' and inserting ``28.15 percent''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--The undesignated paragraph under the heading ``arrearage payments'' in title IV of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, the Judiciary, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 1999 (as contained in section 101(b) of division A of the Omnibus Consolidated and Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1999; 112 Stat. 2681-96) is amended by striking ``25 percent'' and inserting ``28.15 percent''.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde).
General Leave
Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the Senate bill under consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from Illinois?
There was no objection.
Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise in strong support of S. 248, a measure urgently requested by the administration. Its enactment will help to ensure that we can pay the second installment of our arrearages to the United Nations in return for continued progress in lowering our assessment ceilings for the U.N. regular budget and for U.N. peacekeeping operations.
Our actions on this measure are all the more important in light of the events of September 11. Meeting our financial obligations to the United Nations will help to ensure that our policymakers can keep the focus on broad policies that unite the members of the security council in the fight against global terrorism.
Its enactment revises one of the provisions of the underlying U.N. reform legislation, known as the Helms-Biden law, ensuring that we do not accumulate any additional arrears and that our assessed share for the United Nations peacekeeping operations will drop from close to 32 percent to 28 percent.
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In December of 2000, the U.N. put in place a 6-year plan to reduce our share of U.N. peacekeeping costs, with the result that in 2002, our assessment ceiling will drop to 26.5 percent, with further reductions until it reaches 25 percent in 2006.
Our adoption of S. 248 will also ensure that our assessment ceiling for the U.N. regular budget will go from 25 percent to 22 percent, and that other long-term U.N. reform measures are fully implemented. Over the next 10 years, these lower payment ceilings will provide more than
$2 billion of savings to the American taxpayer.
Enacted in the 106th Congress, the Helms-Biden law authorized a total of $819 million in arrearage payments to the U.N., including $100 million in fiscal year 1998 funds, $475 million in fiscal year 1999 funds, and $244 million in fiscal year 2000. The legislation also allowed an additional $107 million in debt relief of monies owed to the U.S. by the U.N.
These payments are only made upon specified certifications by the Department of State that the U.N. has implemented reform benchmarks upon each tranche of funds. Among the certifications for release of the first $100 million authorized under the Helms-Biden legislation are stipulations that the U.N. would not implement any measure violating our Constitution, ceding sovereignty, taxing Americans, creating a standing army, charging the U.S. interest on arrears or exercising control over any U.S. park, monument or property.
In December of 1999, this certification was made, and $100 million of fiscal year 1998 funds were paid to the U.N. This legislation would enable the Department of State to pay the second tranche of $475 million, together with the $107 million in debt relief foregone to the U.S., for a total of $582 million, conditional upon a similar certification that our U.N. assessment ceilings are being reduced.
I urge the adoption of this measure.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this resolution.
First, Mr. Speaker, I want to commend my good friend, the distinguished chairman of the Committee on International Relations, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde), for his outstanding work in bringing this legislation before the House.
I wish to take this opportunity to discuss the recent terrorist attacks and explain why, in light of these tragic events, it is all the more important that we pay our arrears to the United Nations.
Two weeks ago, Mr. Speaker, our Nation lost its innocence, but it found a new sense of unity and purpose. This new sense of unity comes from the sudden realization that our open and free and democratic way of life is under attack, and it must be and will be defended. We must learn from this tragic experience and we must be able to take intelligent, thoughtful and swift action.
But the United States, Mr. Speaker, cannot act alone and expect to prevail in this long-term painful struggle against international terrorism. All Americans deeply appreciate the many expressions of sympathy and support from our friends and allies, and some who do not fall into either category, but it will require actions, not simply words, to defeat global terrorist organizations and the nations which give them support and safe harbor.
As President Bush, Secretary Powell and our Nation's diplomatic corps begin to secure concrete commitments required to wage this battle against international terrorism, we must take advantage of every forum available to reach out to the nations of the world. The United Nations is clearly the world's premier forum, and it will be one of the primary theaters for the United States to act diplomatically on this matter.
Within 48 hours of the September 11 outrage, the U.N. Security Council and the General Assembly of the United Nations condemned the violence and voted to support actions taken against those who are responsible and against those States that aid them.
On Friday of that week, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times, and he said the following:
The international communities is defined not only by what it is for, but by what and whom it is against. The United Nations must have the courage to recognize that just as there are common aims, there are common enemies. To defeat them, all nations must join forces in an effort encompassing every aspect of the open, free global system, so wickedly and viciously exploited by the perpetrators of last week's atrocities. The United Nations is uniquely positioned to advance this effort.
Mr. Speaker, United Nations conventions already provide a legal framework for many of the concrete actions which must be taken by nations to eradicate terrorism. These conventions provide for the extradition and prosecution of terrorists and the suppression of money laundering. Nations that are serious about joining the United States in our battle against global terrorism must ratify these important conventions.
The United Nations can also help to ensure that the new battle against global terrorism does not slip to the back burner. Last Thursday President Bush said, ``Even grief recedes with time and grace, but our resolve must not pass.''
By helping to focus the international community on the scourge of terrorism, I believe the United Nations can help us turn our collective grief into concrete victories against the new enemy of the 21st century, international terrorism.
Aside from the battle against terrorism, the United Nations continues to play an invaluable role in promoting international peace and stability. Since its inception over half a century ago, the U.N. has negotiated 172 peaceful settlements to conflicts around the globe, helping to end the civil war in El Salvador and the Iran-Iraq war. Its peacekeeping operations have assisted to uphold cease-fires, conduct free and fair elections, deter violence and create free and democratic nations.
Even today, the U.N. is giving birth to a free and independent East Timor. Since the East Timorese voted in 1999 for independence from Indonesia and suffered enormous human and economic costs as a result of the violence following that vote, the United Nations has taken charge of this fledgling country, which just completed its first free and fair elections.
Now, Mr. Speaker, we cannot ask the United Nations to bring freedom to difficulties-possessed people, battle terrorism, resolve international conflicts and conduct extensive peacekeeping operations, and yet fail to pay our dues. The Helms-Biden United Nations package enacted in 1999 provided for the payment of American back-dues over a 3-year period, and our former United Nations ambassador, Richard Holbrook, performed exceptionally well in successfully negotiating the type of U.N. reforms called by the Helms-Biden Act.
The legislation before our body today brings the U.N. arrears package into line with the far-reaching U.N. reform plan engineered by Ambassador Holbrooke and ensures that the $582 million can move forward expeditiously. I am very pleased that the United Nations arrears legislation enjoys such strong bipartisan support, and again, I wish to commend my friend, the gentleman from Illinois (Chairman Hyde), for his exemplary leadership on this bill.
I would note, however, that we are not bound by a side agreement between the White House and the House Republican leadership on the International Criminal Court that may be related to this legislation moving forward.
Mr. Speaker, the American people passionately support the common goal, punishment of those who conducted the September 11 attacks, and an end to global terrorism. The United Nations can help achieve that goal if we meet our commitments. I strongly urge all of my colleagues to support this important bill.
Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to yield 3 minutes to the learned gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).
Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the chairman yielding me time.
Mr. Speaker, as the prime sponsor of the Admiral James W. Nance and Meg Donovan Foreign Relations Authorization Act, fiscal years 2000 and 2001, H.R. 3427, signed by President Clinton on November 29, 1999, I rise in very strong support of this legislation, S. 248, legislation that alters that Act and provides additional flexibility in pursuing our goals of reforming the operations of the United Nations while strengthening our efforts to build a coalition against this terrorist threat that we all face.
Mr. Speaker, H.R. 3427, which authorized appropriations for the Department of State, contained dozens of reforms for our State Department, refugee protection, freedom broadcasting and a host of other things. As a matter of fact, the embassy security portion of it provided $5.9 billion over 5 years to try to beef up our efforts and to mitigate the threats against terrorists abroad. It also contained what is commonly referred to as the Helms-Biden provisions, Title IX, which contained specific reforms for the U.N. in exchange for payment of U.S. arrearages.
In the first year, the new law required that before arrearages were to be made, the Secretary of State had to make a number of certifications concerning U.S. sovereignty. That satisfied, the arrears payments were released. In the second year, which is the focus of this legislation we are considering today, the Secretary of State is required to make certifications requiring reductions in assessments as mandated by law. Specifically, our legislation required that the assessment of the U.N.'s regular budget be lowered from 25 percent to 22 percent, and the U.S. share of any peacekeeping operations be reduced to no greater than 25 percent of the total cost.
In December of last year, as my colleagues, the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos) have pointed out, following negotiations with the U.S. Representative to the U.N., the General Assembly agreed to lower the assessment for the regular budget to 22 percent, as required.
In addition, an agreement was reached to lower the peacekeeping share borne by the U.S., although at a more gradual pace than envisioned. Under the negotiated agreement, the U.S. share would drop from approximately 31 percent to 28.15 percent beginning in January of 2001. Subsequently, the rate would drop from 27.5 percent on July 1, then to 26.5 in 2002, and further reductions are anticipated, until we get down to the 25 percent within a 6-year time period.
Mr. Speaker, while this reduction is not as great as we had called for in the legislation, it does represent a significant reform of the United Nations, and will save American taxpayers about $2 billion over the next 10 years.
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Furthermore, Mr. Speaker, by accepting this negotiated settlement, we provide a clear signal to the world community that the United States is serious about acting together with other nations of the world.
Mr. Speaker, S. 248 will amend our law to fall in line with the negotiated reductions. I think it is a good bill and it deserves, I believe, the unanimous backing, especially during this time of crisis, of every Member of this Chamber.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, we continue to reserve our time.
Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the distinguished gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Shays).
Mr. SHAYS. Mr. Speaker, as chairman of the Committee on Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security, Veterans' Affairs, and International Relations, I rise in strong support of repaying our debt to the United Nations.
Make no mistake about it. While this bill is being considered on the suspension calendar, it is one of the most important foreign policy decisions Congress will make this year.
Since the brutal terrorist attacks of September 11, our Nation has been working as never before to build an international coalition for the war against terrorism. Yet, at the same time, the administration is reaching out to nations from every corner of the globe, the United States remains the biggest debtor nation at the U.N. This is not only unacceptable, it is a gigantic impediment to our diplomatic efforts and clearly endangers our national security.
Mr. Speaker, S. 248 is necessary because the 1999 Helms-Biden agreement, which I supported, authorized the repayment of our Nation's
$926 million debt to the U.N., but contained a number of benchmarks the U.N. was required to meet. Last December, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke reached a landmark agreement with our U.N. member nations on reductions in regular budget and peacekeeping contributions by the United States. The agreement received the subsequent endorsement of Senators Jesse Helms and Joseph Biden who drafted this legislation to adjust certain statutory requirements so they would conform with this agreement and permit the long overdue payment of the U.S. arrears to the U.N.
The Cold War is over, but on September 11, we saw in very plain terms that the world is a far more dangerous place.
Today, there is considerable uncertainty, both at home and abroad, about the period we are entering and how we will wage the war against terrorists. During this period of less clearly defined global politics, we will, we must, increasingly rely on the United Nations as a forum for resolving the varied interests of autonomous nations. Yet, every day we fail to pay our debts to the U.N., we make our work far more difficult.
Countries all over the world are looking to the United States for leadership, yet what they see is a very powerful and wealthy country refusing to live up to some of its international commitments. Why, as a nation, would we want to unnecessarily complicate our diplomatic efforts at a time when we need every ounce of leverage?
I want to conclude by stating that S. 248 enjoys broad bipartisan support. It passed the Senate earlier this year by a vote of 99 to 0, and Secretary of State Colin Powell has called it a needed step in repaying our arrears. I commend the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hastert), the Speaker of the House, and the gentleman from Illinois
(Mr. Hyde), the chairman of the Committee on International Relations, and the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), the ranking member of the committee, for bringing this legislation to the floor in a way that will allow us to avoid a protracted conference with the Senate.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support S. 248 so we can get it to the President's desk immediately.
Mr. LANTOS. Mr. Speaker, we have no additional requests for time; and I yield back the balance of our time.
Mr. HALL of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of S. 248 which will authorize payment of United States back dues to the United Nations. Great nations pay their bills. It is time the United States met its obligations to this critical international organization.
This legislation will release the second installment of $582 million to pay off our back dues to the U.N. totaling almost $1 billion. As the United States has seen from the recent tragedy of September 11, a strong United Nations is in our national interest. The U.N. will play a critical role in building diplomatic and international support in the war against terrorism.
Mr. Speaker, the U.S. Congress needs to live up to our commitments. In 1999, we told the U.N. that if it made certain reforms, we would pay our back dues through the Helms-Biden legislation. The U.N. has kept its end of the bargain and now it is time for Congress to keep our word to pay these funds. Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Richard Holbrooke deserves credit and thanks for negotiating this agreement with the United Nations.
Finally, Mr. Speaker, I want to commend the leadership in the House for bringing this important measure to the floor today. Now is the time for action. I would urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this legislation.
Mr. GILMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the Passage of the S. 248, the United Nations Dues Payment Act, which will allow the payment of $582 million that has been already authorized in light of recent and ongoing reforms at the United Nations. This would give the United States increased leverage in pursuing its policies at the United Nations, particularly in forming a worldwide anti-terror coalition.
Today the United Nations, and the international community as a whole, is at a watershed. As we analyze our current situation, we must bear in mind where we have been. The United Nations was born our of the ashes of the most terrible, costly war of the 20th century. A strong U.N. might have prevented it. Today, the U.N. must seize a role in marshaling the international community's long-term efforts to defeat today's challenge: the scourge of international terrorism.
At the same time, the U.N. must abandon its unhealthy practice of placing an excessive dependence on a single contributor. Under S. 248, our assessed rate for the UN regular budget is cut from 25 to 22 percent while the U.S. assessed share for peacekeeping operations rate will drop immediately from about 32 to 28 percent. Furthermore, further reductions in the percentage of the U.N. budget paid by the U.S. for U.N. peacekeeping operations will take place on a sliding scale, reaching 25 percent by 2006 from 30 percent today.
The fact remains that as a member of the U.N., and having voted in favor many of these peacekeeping missions in the Security Council, we need to make good on our obligations to pay the current arrearage of
$582 million. Failure to do so jeopardizes our efforts to establish a multilateral, multifaceted coalition to combat the international terrorism.
Accordingly, it is fitting that we agree to this legislation.
Mr. HYDE. Mr. Speaker, I have no additional requests for time; and other than to thank my colleague, the gentleman from California (Mr. Lantos), for his usual expeditious treatment of complicated matters, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Miller of Florida). The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Hyde) that the House suspend the rules and pass the Senate bill, S. 248.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds having voted in favor thereof) the rules were suspended and the Senate bill was passed.
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
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