[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1860 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1860

 To clarify prohibitions on funding for any United Nations entity that 
                  admits Palestine as a member state.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 14, 2011

   Mr. Coats introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To clarify prohibitions on funding for any United Nations entity that 
                  admits Palestine as a member state.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The decision by the membership of the United Nations 
        Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to 
        admit the Palestinian Authority as a full member state of the 
        organization is counterproductive, harms efforts to reach a 
        negotiated, lasting, and just peace in the Middle East, and is 
        contrary to United States interests.
            (2) The Palestinian Authority may use this vote as a 
        precedent to pursue membership in other United Nations 
        affiliated organizations, contrary to the best interests of 
        those organizations and the Palestinians themselves.
            (3) Palestinian statehood can emerge only from negotiations 
        with Israel, not from actions by third parties, including the 
        United Nations and its affiliated organizations.
            (4) Existing United States law prohibits appropriation of 
        funds for the United Nations or any specialized agency 
        affiliated with the United Nations that grant full membership 
        as a state to any organization or group that does not have the 
        internationally recognized attributes of statehood.
            (5) The President does not have the discretion to identify 
        alternative methods of providing funds to any United Nations 
        agency that admits Palestine as a member state.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that any effort by the President to 
provide funds to any United Nations agency that admits Palestine as a 
member state would be a violation of section 410 of the Foreign 
Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 (Public Law 
103-236; 108 Stat. 454; 22 U.S.C. 287e note) or section 414 of the 
Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1990 and 1991 (Public 
Law 101-246; 104 Stat. 70; 22 U.S.C. 287e note).
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