[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2496 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2496

To prohibit assessed or voluntary contributions to the United Nations, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 17, 2017

Mr. Franks of Arizona introduced the following bill; which was referred 
                  to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To prohibit assessed or voluntary contributions to the United Nations, 
                        and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Defunding the Corrupt and 
Incompetent United Nations Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    (a) In General.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United States pays far more than any other nation 
        for United Nations operations, which are divided into three 
        program baskets: regular budget, peacekeeping budget, and 
        specialized programs such as developmental and disaster 
        assistance.
            (2) Despite the United States paying an overly large share 
        of the budget, United Nations treaties are often in opposition 
        to the interests of the United States, so the United States is 
        effectively paying others to undermine our foreign policy.
            (3) There also is a global lack of accountability coupled 
        with incompetence at the United Nations, with terrible crimes 
        and genocides happening under the watch of the United Nations.
            (4) Finally, a constant and disproportionate use of United 
        Nations time and money is dedicated to persecuting Israel, the 
        only democracy in the Middle East.
            (5) For the reasons specified in paragraphs (1) through 
        (4), which are further detailed in subsections (b) through (e), 
        the United States will no longer provide funds to this corrupt 
        and incompetent body unless very significant changes are made 
        immediately.
    (b) Unfair Budget Burden and Unaccountability.--Congress finds the 
following:
            (1) The United States was assessed for contributions to the 
        regular United Nations budget and the United Nations 
        peacekeeping budget totaling approximately $3,000,000,000 of an 
        approximately $11,000,000,000 combined United Nations budget 
        for those purposes in 2016.
            (2) At under five percent of the world population, 22 
        percent of the world nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but 
        16.1 percent of world GDP by purchasing power parity, the 
        United States was assessed to contribute 22 percent of the 
        regular United Nations budget in 2016.
            (3) This is a higher regular assessment than the 176 least 
        assessed United Nations member states combined.
            (4) A majority of United Nations member states will be 
        assessed total contributions of less than $1,000,000 a year for 
        the United Nations regular and peacekeeping budgets combined. 
        The least assessed member states historically pay a net several 
        thousand dollars to the United Nations after collecting lavish 
        travel subsidies from the United Nations.
            (5) The 113 members of the Non-Aligned Movement, which 
        frequently votes against United States and democratic proposals 
        and interests, were collectively assessed approximately 
        $559,000,000 of United Nations regular and peacekeeping budgets 
        in 2016.
            (6) The 56 countries of the Organization of Islamic 
        Cooperation (OIC), including 10 of the world's top 20 oil 
        producing countries, together were assessed approximately 
        $406,000,000 to the regular and peacekeeping budgets of the 
        United Nations in 2016. These countries also frequently vote 
        against United States and democratic proposals and interests.
            (7) The other four permanent members of the United Nations 
        Security Council--the Russian Federation, the People's Republic 
        of China, the United Kingdom, and France--were assessed a 
        combined $2,734,000,000 in 2016 to the United Nations, compared 
        to the United States $2,959,000,000 assessment for the United 
        Nations regular budget and United Nations peacekeeping budget.
            (8) The United Nations requires two-thirds of member states 
        to approve the United Nations regular budget but does not have 
        a commonsense rule to require that budgets be approved by 
        member states that contribute two-thirds of the money. This 
        means member states that make minimal contributions can approve 
        the regular budget over the objection of the United States and 
        other major contributors.
            (9) However, the United States also is assessed 28.4691 
        percent of the United Nations peacekeeping budget for 2017 
        despite the bipartisan Foreign Relations Authorization Act, 
        Fiscal Years 1994 and 1995 (Public Law 103-236; enacted April 
        30, 1994), which prohibits the United States from making 
        contributions that exceed 25 percent of the peacekeeping 
        budget. Currently, the difference between 25 percent and the 
        28.4691 percent assessed levels amounts to $275,000,000.
            (10) This is a higher peacekeeping budget assessment than 
        the 185 least assessed United Nations member states combined.
            (11) In addition, the United States Government separately 
        contributes more than $5,000,000,000 per year for other United 
        Nations programs. There is no comprehensive report to Congress 
        about these United Nations agency requirements. The last 
        comprehensive report was for fiscal year 2010.
    (c) United Nations Treaties That Are Against United States 
Interests.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Ratification of the United Nations Convention on the 
        Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) would subject the United States to 
        internationally based environmental mandates and place new 
        financial mandates on United States businesses, and therefore 
        is not in the interests of the United States.
            (2) The recent effort under the auspices of the United 
        Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to 
        reestablish an international regulation regime to end global 
        warming, which would heavily target fossil fuels, is against 
        United States interests.
            (3) Ratification of the Arms Trade Treaty, which would 
        closely regulate global arms trade exports and impose 
        regulations on United States gun manufacturers, is not in the 
        interests of the United States.
    (d) Global Lack of Accountability and Incompetence.--Congress finds 
the following:
            (1) In the civil war in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 2009, the 
        United Nations did not investigate claims of war crimes and 
        made no attempt to protect the civilian population, resulting 
        in 6,500 individuals being murdered inside supposed United 
        Nations ``safe zones''.
            (2) The United Nations did not acknowledge the replacement 
        government of Cambodia after Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge until 
        1994, after Paul Pot's communist authorities murdered more than 
        2,500,000 Cambodians, or 33 percent of the population.
            (3) In 1994, after 10 Belgian peacekeepers were murdered in 
        Rwanda, United Nations troops directly abandoned hundreds of 
        Tutsis who were murdered by Hutus, and in the process abandoned 
        the country to a genocide that left approximately 1,000,000 
        individuals dead, or nearly 20 percent of the population.
            (4) After several United States and Pakistani troops were 
        killed in 1993, the United Nations withdrew all peacekeeping 
        troops from Somalia in 1995.
            (5) In 1995, United Nations peacekeepers in northeastern 
        Bosnia failed to prevent Serbs from murdering 8,000 men and 
        boys in Srebrenica.
            (6) From 2003 to 2005 the United Nations did not enter 
        Sudan despite organized attacks on populated villages by 
        Janjaweed militant groups. In 2010 an estimated 300,000 
        Sudanese civilians were killed.
            (7) United Nations peacekeeping audits have revealed 
        mismanagement, fraud, and corruption in procurement.
            (8) United Nations peacekeepers were the source of the 
        cholera outbreak in Haiti beginning in 2010 that left more than 
        8,000 individuals dead and 600,000 seriously sickened.
            (9) United Nations agencies are in the bottom half of 
        effectiveness among bilateral, multilateral, and United Nations 
        aid agencies based on transparency, specialization, 
        selectivity, ineffective aid channels, and overhead cost 
        (``Rhetoric versus Reality: The Best and Worst of Aid Agency 
        Practices'', William Easterly and Claudia R. Williamson).
            (10) The United Nations Security Council attempted to 
        invoke sanctions under chapter VII of the Charter of the United 
        Nations to prevent genocide in the recent civil war in Syria, 
        but the Russian Federation and the People's Republic of China 
        prevented action by the United Nations, resulting in more than 
        60,000 civilian deaths and thousands of other civilians 
        displaced.
            (11) A United Nations study found that United Nations 
        peacekeeping missions routinely avoid using force to protect 
        civilians who are under attack, intervening in only 20 percent 
        of cases despite being authorized to do so by the United 
        Nations Security Council (``United Nations General Assembly, 
        Evaluation of the Implementation and Results of Protection of 
        Civilians Mandates in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations, 
        No. A/68/787'', Reuters, May 7, 2014).
            (12) United Nations peacekeepers continue to abuse the 
        unprotected populations they are supposed to be helping (Code 
        Blue, ``A Practical Plan to End Impunity for Peacekeeper Sexual 
        Abuse'', October 13, 2016).
            (13) United Nations peacekeepers in South Sudan in 2016 
        failed to protect civilians from murder and rape even within 
        sight of United Nations soldiers or inside supposedly protected 
        safe zones.
    (e) Constant and Disproportionate Use of United Nations Time and 
Money To Harass Israel.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) The United Nations is hostile to our closest ally in 
        the Middle East, Israel, which is also the most developed 
        democracy in that region.
            (2) The United Nations Security Council passed United 
        Nations Security Council Resolution 2324 on December 23, 2016, 
        to condemn Israeli settlements, while the Obama administration 
        backstabbed Israel by abstaining instead of vetoing this 
        dangerous resolution. As Senator Charles Schumer said, 
        ``Whatever one's views are on settlements, anyone who cares 
        about the future of Israel and peace in the region knows that 
        the United Nations, with its one-sidedness, is exactly the 
        wrong forum to bring about peace.''.
            (3) The United Nations voted in 2012 to grant the 
        Palestinian Authority ``non-member state'' permanent observer 
        status.
            (4) United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) also acts 
        contrary to United States interests. For example, in the ten 
        years of June 2006 through June 2016, when the UNHRC acts to 
        condemn a specific country, most of the time it condemns 
        Israel. That is to say, the UNHRC singles Israel out for 
        solitary condemnation more than all the other countries of the 
        world put together.
            (5) The UNHRC has 10 permanent agenda items, one of which 
        (Agenda Item 7, ``Human Rights Situation in Palestine and Other 
        Occupied Arab Territories'') is criticism of Israel.
            (6) The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for 
        Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), contrary to the 
        practice of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 
        defines Palestinian ``refugee'' status as a hereditary 
        entitlement over generations. It also failed to stop Hamas from 
        stockpiling missiles in schools, and did not immediately report 
        this violation of civilian rights and standard of conflict to 
        the United Nations Security Council.
            (7) The United Nations Durban Declaration of the World 
        Conference Against Racism in 2001 singled out only Israel for 
        condemnation for racist policies, of all the countries in the 
        world.
            (8) Twenty Arab countries use the United Nations to vote 
        against United States interests most of the time but collect 
        annual foreign assistance from the United States. For example, 
        in 2017 Egypt is slated to receive $1,500,000,000 in 
        assistance, Jordan $1,000,000,000 and Iraq $500,000,000. These 
        figures do not include all amounts of United States military 
        assistance given in direct funding, in-kind grants, and excess 
        defense equipment.
            (9) The Palestinian Authority also receives over 
        $350,000,000 per year from the United States in humanitarian 
        assistance that the Palestinian Authority routinely uses to 
        inspire hate in schools, among other purposes.
            (10) All this United Nations anti-Israel activity goes on 
        despite Israel being the only democracy in the Middle East, 
        giving citizenship to many Arab citizens, holding open 
        elections and an independent judiciary, sponsoring a vibrant 
        civil society, and allowing freedom for press, women, religious 
        beliefs, nongovernmental organizations, and gay lifestyles.
            (11) Israel also has traded land for peace but Hamas 
        continues to be dedicated to the destruction of Israel. When 
        Israel withdrew from Gaza, the territory fell under the control 
        of Hamas, which launched regular rocket and terror attacks on 
        Israel from Gaza.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON ASSESSED AND VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE 
              UNITED NATIONS.

    (a) In General.--No funds may be obligated or expended to provide 
assessed or voluntary contributions to the United Nations, the United 
Nations system, or United Nations-affiliated agencies during the period 
beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the 
date on which the President certifies to Congress that the requirements 
and criteria described in subsection (b) are met.
    (b) Requirements and Criteria Described.--The requirements and 
criteria described in this subsection are the following:
            (1) The United Nations adopts a rule providing that for the 
        United Nations regular budget to be approved, not only must the 
        currently required two-thirds of member states approve, but 
        also a combination of member states whose assessed 
        contributions make up at least 67 percent of the regular budget 
        must approve.
            (2) The Director of the Office of Management and Budget 
        submits to Congress a report on all United States assessed and 
        voluntary contributions to the United Nations system.
            (3) The Secretary of State submits to Congress a report 
        providing a comprehensive analysis of United States interests 
        supported by United States memberships in international 
        organizations, United States contributions to these 
        organizations, and whether these interests could be achieved by 
        other means. This report additionally shall assess which United 
        Nations organizations contain good or poor value for their 
        money, and recommending which if any of such organization 
        merits United States support, and which do not merit United 
        States support.
            (4) The Office of Inspector General of the Department of 
        State establishes an office responsible for inspecting and 
        auditing the use of United States contributions to 
        international organizations.
            (5) The Secretary-General of the United Nations and the 
        heads of other international organizations described in 
        paragraph (4) provide assurances to the United States 
        Government that such organizations will cooperate with the 
        Department of State office established pursuant to paragraph 
        (4).
            (6) The Secretary of State submits to Congress an 
        evaluation of long-running United Nations peacekeeping missions 
        to ascertain which such missions are needed and which such 
        missions and participants are advancing United States and 
        democratic ideals and interests.
            (7) The United Nations revises its pay structure so that 
        salaries do not exceed equivalent United States civil service 
        salaries.
            (8) The United Nations reinstates and conducts ongoing, 
        annual, robust reviews of its own mandates to determine which 
        such mandates are outmoded and should be eliminated or 
        terminated.
            (9) The United Nations reinstates its Procurement Task 
        Force that successfully reviewed large scale fraud in the 
        $600,000,000 Iraqi oil for food program but was subsequently 
        shut down.
            (10) The United Nations adopts reforms to make the United 
        Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) and ethics 
        office truly independent, and strengthens whistleblower 
        protections.
            (11) The United Nations demonstrates its peacekeepers are 
        proactively protecting civilians, and adopts changes to insure 
        that troop contributing countries investigate and punish those 
        found to have not followed their duties and/or to have 
        committed crimes.

SEC. 4. FURTHER LIMITATION ON ASSESSED AND PEACEKEEPING CONTRIBUTIONS 
              TO THE UNITED NATIONS.

    Beginning on the day after the date on which the President 
certifies to Congress that the requirements and criteria described in 
section 3(b) are met--
            (1) funds obligated or expended to provide assessed 
        contributions to the United Nations regular budget may not 
        exceed 18 percent of the total assessed contributions to such 
        budget; and
            (2) funds obligated or expended to provide assessed 
        contributions to the United Nations peacekeeping budget may not 
        exceed 25 percent of the total contributions to such budget.
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