[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 28 (Thursday, March 6, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E404]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       SUPPORT THE UNITED NATIONS

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                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 6, 1997

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to introduce a concurrent 
resolution expressing the sense of Congress that the United States will 
continue its leadership in the United Nations by honoring the financial 
obligations to that institution.
  Everyone agrees that United Nations is in need of reform. In fact, 
Joseph Connor, the Undersecretary for Administration and Management, 
announced yesterday that the U.N. budget will come in under its 
estimated 1998 budget, and the 1997 budget was a cut from the previous 
year.
  But, if the United States continues to be a global deadbeat, the 
United Nations will lose its ability to carry out missions important to 
American foreign policy, such as promoting human rights, controlling 
the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, spreading democracy, 
and preventing global conflicts.
  The United States was a founding member of the United Nations. 
Throughout its half century of existence, through times of war and 
peace, the United Nations has stood as a pillar of stability. That is 
why Republicans and Democrats alike have supported not only its 
existence but American financial obligations. Now 61 percent of arrears 
to the United Nations are owed by the most powerful Nation on Earth. 
This is wrong. We can't allow short-term thinking in Congress to 
jeopardize our long-term security.
  Please join me in sending a strong message to the world that the 
United States will lead and the United States will keep its word.

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