Learn from the mistakes of others

Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Congressman agrees to revised UN reform bill
Chris Buell at 10:53 AM ET

[JURIST] US House International Relations Committee [official website] chairman Rep. Henry Hyde [official website] indicated Monday that he would support a revised version of the UN Reform Act [text] in an attempt to gain Senate support for the legislation. Hyde said he would work with committee member Rep. Tom Lantos [official website] on a bill that would tie US funding for the UN to an assessment by the US secretary of state of the status of UN reform [JURIST news archive]. Lantos' proposal changes what would have been an automatic withdrawal of US funding if UN reform efforts stalled.

Last year, Hyde pushed for a bill that would put pressure on the UN to implement reforms despite opposition from the Bush administration [JURIST report]. The legislation won House approval [JURIST report], but failed to garner enough support in the Senate. The UN approved some reforms at its annual summit in September 2005, but members failed to agree on reforms for several key issues.

VOA has more.

The USA is the Largest Debtor to the UN, owing Billions in contributions.

Now the "We're-not-an-Empire" have decided that unless the UN does what they want, they'll be even more recalcitrant in their contributions.

Good thing the US is a democracy ...