[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 81 (Wednesday, June 11, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S5486]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   PAYING OUR UNITED NATIONS ARREARS

  Mr. GREGG. Madam President, I wanted to talk a little bit about the 
agreement which we are about to reach, it appears, relative to the 
United Nations and how we are going to pay our arrears. I chair the 
Committee on Commerce, State, and Justice, which has jurisdiction over 
the appropriations that go to the United Nations. At the behest of the 
majority leader, Senator Lott, and at the request of the Secretary of 
State, Madeleine Albright, myself and Senator Helms and Senator Grams 
and our staffs have been meeting assiduously with Ambassador 
Richardson's staff, and the staff of Secretary Albright. We have made 
considerable progress. In fact, we believe we have reached an agreement 
as to how to handle these arrearages.
  The basic theme of this agreement is that we are going to ask the 
United Nations to be a better place. We are not going to ask them to do 
things which are unreasonable. We are not going to ask them to do 
things which are political. We are just going to ask them to do a 
better job of handling our money. And to assure that, we are going to 
set certain benchmarks.
  So, we are going to commit to the United Nations; we are basically 
going to give them what amounts to, in my opinion, an irrevocable 
letter of credit that we will pay the arrearages as we see them. The 
number that we agreed on I believe is significant, and I believe it 
will be agreeable to the people at the United Nations But, in exchange 
for paying those arrearages--and we are going to do it over a period of 
time--we are going to ask that the United Nations run a better shop, 
that it be more efficient, that it use those dollars more efficiently 
and that it make sure that it handles those dollars the way American 
taxpayers expect us to handle the dollars that they pay us. Because for 
every dollar spent at the United Nations today, 25 cents comes from the 
American taxpayer.

  It is very hard today to go back to the people in New Hampshire, my 
good people who have just been rated so highly as the great place to 
live by Money magazine--it is very hard to go back to them and say, 
``Well, we are going to give the United Nations this amount of money 
for our dues but we are not sure where the money is spent, how it is 
spent, who it is spent on, or whether, when it is spent, it goes to 
where they say it is going to go.''
  To try to correct that, we are asking that the United Nations meet 
certain very definable, enforceable benchmarks. The Senator from 
Minnesota, who I notice is on the floor, Senator Grams, has been a 
major player in defining those benchmarks, and of course the Senator 
from North Carolina, Senator Helms, chairman of the Foreign Relations 
Committee, has been a force of immense proportions on defining those 
benchmarks.
  But agreement appears to have been reached, at least between 
ourselves and the administration. It is an agreement which is fair and 
which gives the United Nations the dollars which they feel they 
deserve. But, in exchange for those dollars, it does require that the 
United Nations be responsible with the management of those dollars and 
the management of additional dollars that we will be giving them in the 
foreseeable future. This agreement, I believe, will be included in the 
foreign relations bill, the authorization bill for foreign affairs, 
foreign relations, which is going to be coming through--the State 
Department authorization. It will be marked up later this week.
  I just want to express my appreciation for all the people who worked 
so hard on this. We worked on it for about, I guess, now, almost 4 
months. Fairly aggressive negotiations have occurred. I think it is 
good we have reached an agreement and it is positive for the process 
and it will immensely improve the operation of the United Nations, 
should the United Nations decide to go along with proposals that we 
have made. I presume they will because they are reasonable proposals.
  Madam President, I yield the remainder of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota is recognized.
  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, let me claim as much time as I may 
consume of the leader's time and ask unanimous consent I may be 
followed by the Senator from Minnesota, Senator Wellstone.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. If this would help in the deliberations, we have 
talked to Senator Grams and I plan on restricting my remarks to 5 
minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is the Senator from North Dakota seeking the 
time that has been designated in the agreement to the minority leader?
  Mr. DORGAN. Yes, that is what I requested, Madam President.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I will not consume but a fraction of the 
1 hour, and the Senator from Minnesota, Senator Wellstone, will consume 
a very short amount of time. I believe Senator Grams will then be 
recognized. We had a visit about that and I appreciate the courtesy of 
both of my colleagues.

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