[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 68 (Thursday, May 26, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
        NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 1995

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                               speech of

                           HON. FLOYD SPENCE

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 24, 1994

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 4301) to 
     authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1995 for military 
     activities of the Department of Defense, to prescribe 
     military personnel strengths for fiscal year 1995, and for 
     other purposes:
  Mr. SPENCE. Mr. Chairman, I offer this amendment on behalf of Mr. 
Michel, Mr. Gingrich, Mr. Hyde, Mr. Gilman, and myself in an attempt to 
fix a serious and growing problem concerning how the United Nations 
taps into the pockets of the American taxpayer.
  At first glance, this amendment might appear to be complicated when, 
in fact, it is really simple and straightforward.
  Let me first clarify what this amendment is not. It is not about 
whether the Defense Department or the State Department ought to pay for 
the U.S. share of U.N. peacekeeping costs. The House will address this 
issue later in the debate. Nor is this amendment about whether or not 
the United States ought to get involved in a particular U.N. 
peacekeeping operation somewhere around the world. What the amendment 
is about is requiring that all Department of Defense unreimbursed costs 
in support of U.N. peacekeeping operations be credited against the 
peacekeeping bill submitted by the U.N. to the U.S. Government every 
year.
  Mr. Chairman, the costs of U.N. peacekeeping operations have exploded 
since the late 1980's--from $37 million in 1988 to an estimated $4.5 
billion this year. Because the United States is billed for 
approximately one-third of these costs under the U.N.'s assessment 
formula, the American taxpayer's bill for these United Nations 
operations has also risen dramatically in the past several years. This 
trend has created a situation where the magnitude of the U.N. 
peacekeeping charges passed on to us is rapidly outstripping our 
ability to pay them. In fact, the estimate of our unpaid U.N. 
peacekeeping bill, or arrearages, is likely to exceed $1 billion by the 
end of this year.
  To add insult to injury, the American taxpayer is getting double 
billed when it comes to U.N. peacekeeping costs. While our unpaid U.N. 
peacekeeping debt grows, the Department of Defense regularly spends 
hundreds of millions of dollars in support of U.N. peacekeeping 
operations--the vast majority of which is never reimbursed by the 
United Nations. Unfortunately, the administration does not even seek 
reimbursement for many of these substantial costs incurred by DOD.
  For example, within the last year, Congress approved reprogrammings 
and supplemental appropriations exceeding $1 billion to partly offset 
the costs of the United States operations in Somalia--and even this 
falls short of adequately paying for DOD's true costs. Similarly, the 
bulk of DOD's costs to support the United Nations in, over, and around 
Bosnia today are being paid for out the hide of the military service's 
operating budgets and will not be reimbursed by the United Nations. 
Last year alone, the cost of these unreimbursable DOD operations in 
support of the United Nations exceeded $1.3 billion, and they are 
expected to remain at similar levels in the future.
  This amendment would simply require that the United States deduct 
DOD's unreimbursed expenses in support of peacekeeping operations from 
its annual peacekeeping bill from the United Nations. It is only right 
to get credit where credit is due.
  This amendment is a modest, common sense first step to insert a 
measure of honest accounting into the process by which the United 
States pays its peacekeeping bills.

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