[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 9 (Wednesday, January 15, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H235-H236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         NO FUNDING FOR UNESCO

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, each year the United States taxpayers 
are on the hook for over $7 billion in contributions to the United 
Nations.
  While some of this money is given by the United States on a voluntary 
basis and goes toward funding some helpful agencies at the U.N., a 
large portion of these funds are compulsory payments over which we have 
no oversight. Without the ability to perform oversight and mandate 
transparency and accountability, we have seen entities within the 
United Nations drift far away from the ideals and objectives it was 
designed to achieve.
  One need look no further than one of its main bodies, the Human 
Rights Council, where just this past November, the U.N. General 
Assembly selected China, Russia, and my native homeland of Cuba--where 
my family and I were forced to flee Castro's Communist regime, and 
where terrible human rights violations have been occurring for over 
half a century.
  This is the same organization where a rogue regime like Iran, that 
had no less than six U.N. Security Councils resolutions against it for 
its illicit nuclear program, was actually selected to chair a 
disarmament conference. Only in the U.N. would this happen.
  It is the same organization that spends a great deal of time and 
effort adopting resolutions against our friend and ally, the democratic 
Jewish State of Israel, ignoring the brutality of the Assad regime and 
the crimes that it commits against the Syrian people.
  Perhaps nowhere is this agenda more prevalent at the U.N. than at 
UNESCO, where in 2011 that entity allowed a nonexistent state of 
Palestine into its anti-American and anti-Israel organization.
  This move triggered decades-old law in the United States that 
prohibits us from funding any agency at the U.N. that admits Palestine 
or any other nonrecognized organization into its membership. By 
recognizing Palestine at UNESCO, that entity is attempting to grant the 
Palestinian Authority a de facto recognition as a state before it works 
out a peace settlement with Israel, and it actually undermines the 
Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
  The powers that be at UNESCO knew what they were doing when they did 
this, and they knew that there would be repercussions; yet they chose 
to test our mettle and our willingness to do the right thing, to stand 
by our ally and to stick to our principles and to stick to our U.S. 
laws.
  For a time it appeared as though they may have been right. The 
administration has made no secret of its desire to seek a waiver to 
this prohibition in order to turn the money spigot

[[Page H236]]

back on for UNESCO. Not only does it wish to pay nearly $80 million in 
dues this year. No, but because it chose to remain in UNESCO rather 
than doing the prudent thing and withdrawing our membership, we have 
piled up hundreds of millions of dollars in arrears, late fees.
  There has also been an appetite by some here in Congress to partially 
fund UNESCO and, in effect, turn a blind eye to this troublesome 
agenda, all for a designation that studies have shown has a minimal, if 
at all, economic benefit to the local site.

                              {time}  1100

  Luckily, Mr. Speaker, we have managed to stave off such a calamitous 
decision. Reversal of U.S. law on this issue would have set a dangerous 
example, and it would have shown the world that the U.S. lacks the 
courage of its convictions and will only do the easy thing when it 
comes to helping our ally, Israel.
  But I know this won't be the last time that we will have to fight 
this battle, and I would urge my colleagues to not allow any partial 
funding or any waiver that would undermine our U.S. laws.
  I would like to thank my House colleagues who did the right thing and 
prevented this grave mistake from occurring. We must fully enforce 
these laws and we must seek ways to leverage our assistance to the 
United Nations to force the reforms it needs or we have to seek ways to 
change the way in which we fund the United Nations.
  Enough is enough, Mr. Speaker.

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