[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 96 (Friday, July 15, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1502]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         H.R. 2745, THE HENRY J. HYDE UNITED NATIONS REFORM ACT

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                          HON. BETTY McCOLLUM

                              of minnesota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 14, 2005

  Ms. McCOLLUM of Minnesota. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my strong 
opposition to H.R. 2745, the Henry J. Hyde United Nations Reform Act of 
2005.
  The United Nations is a critical multilateral organization that 
provides a vital and necessary forum for the U.S. to advance our 
Nation's foreign policy priorities as well as to improve and strengthen 
development, security and human rights around the globe. As an original 
founder and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, 
the U.S. has an opportunity to shape the direction of future reforms 
and continue our important role of pursuing multilateral solution to 
the world's most challenging problems. Or, as this legislation appears 
intent upon achieving, the U.S. can withdraw support from the United 
Nations and watch from the sidelines as the world body withers, leaving 
our Nation isolated and at risk. The latter approach, I believe, would 
be a dangerous and foolish mistake.
  For sixty years, the organizations and programs operating under the 
umbrella of the United Nations have been working to improve health, 
food security and human rights around the world; combating terrorism, 
narcotics trafficking and the proliferation of weapons of mass 
destruction; encouraging and empowering the protection of rights for 
women, workers, ethnic and religious minorities and persons with 
disabilities; and enhancing the security and upholding peace in areas 
devastated by conflict. The feeding, sheltering, and protection of 
millions of refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide, many 
of whom might not be alive today without such help, has also be a vital 
United Nations function. The sum of this work carried out by the United 
Nations, this very difficult work, has been a monumental achievement, 
much of it funded by the generosity of the American tax payer, that has 
improved the lives of billions of people and made our world safer, 
healthier, more peaceful and more just.
  This legislation before the House, H.R. 2745, is deeply flawed. It 
would mandate drastic cuts to the U.S. funding obligation to the United 
Nations, unless the U.S. Secretary of State can certify compliance with 
39 far-reaching, and detailed, reforms. Unfortunately, many of these 
reforms apply to related agencies that are out of the management 
authority of the United Nations Secretariat. In addition, this bill 
would put ongoing peacekeeping missions, and U.S. involvement in future 
missions integral to our national security, in jeopardy.
  Reforms are needed at the United Nations. The debate on the floor 
clearly reflects that Democrats and Republicans agree on this fact. 
However, the U.S. has an opportunity, and I would say a responsibility, 
to play a positive and constructive role in reforming the United 
Nations, in a way that promotes greater transparency, more effective 
decision making, greater emphasis on oversight of the bureaucracy and a 
clear standard of accountability among member states for their conduct 
with relations to human rights.
  The Henry J. Hyde United Nations Reform Act fails to provide the 
resources, the time, and the flexibility to allow reform to be carried 
out correctly, as needed to sustain this great organization. This 
legislation blatantly puts politics before peace keeping and threatens 
to undermine the important leadership of the U.S. in the eyes of the 
international community.
  The State Department strongly objects to key provisions of this bill 
including the key principle of linking of U.S. dues to United Nations 
reforms. Rather than starve the United Nations by unilaterally cutting 
support, I support the rational and reasonable alternative legislation, 
the bipartisan Lantos-Shays alternative to H.R. 2745, that would 
eliminate the mandate for funding cuts and empower the Secretary of 
State to withhold funds if suggested reforms are not met. This 
substitute appropriate encourages the U.S. to work with other nations 
to achieve real and lasting United Nations reform.

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