[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 19060]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 1146

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. WALLY HERGER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 22, 2003

  Mr. HERGER. Mr. Speaker, concerning rollcall vote 108-364, On 
Agreeing to the Amendment of Representative Ron Paul of Texas to H.R. 
1950, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 2003: Although I was 
correctly recorded as voting against the passage of this amendment, 
which eventually failed by an overwhelming vote of 74 to 350, I would 
like the Congressional Record to reflect that my ``no'' vote was in 
error, and I would have liked to have voted ``aye'' on this provision.
  Specifically, Representative Paul's amendment would have prohibited 
funds authorized under H.R. 1950 to be used to pay any U.S. 
contribution to the United Nations or any affiliated agency of the 
United Nations. Like many, I firmly believe evidence of the need for a 
dramatic reevaluation of current U.N. policy is glaring. Over the 
years, the United States has been a host nation to the United Nations, 
headquartered in New York City, and has contributed greatly to the 
funding for the organization, including the enormous cost to the 
American taxpayer of deploying our military on the numerous U.N. 
peacekeeping missions worldwide, amounting to roughly one-quarter of 
the peacekeeping expenses of the 191-member body. However, recent 
events surrounding the ousting of Saddam Hussein's tyrannical regime in 
Iraq, and the inability of the United Nations to enforce its own 
Security Council resolutions, has renewed questions of the legitimacy 
of this body, as well as the necessity and level of U.S. participation 
in its funding and daily activities.
  I would also like to note that I have cosponsored a number of pieces 
of legislation in the House of Representatives, which, I believe, 
address these questions more thoroughly. While I do not object to the 
U.N.'s founding objectives of peace through positive discussions and 
diplomacy, the organization has clearly failed in this charter mission. 
As it currently exists, the United Nations merely provides a weighted 
platform to nondemocratic and anti-American nations. Perhaps a more 
constructive and strategically important avenue would be to pursue an 
entirely new federation of nations, limiting voting membership to 
democratic countries that share our values and goals.
  For these reasons, I have cosponsored H.R. 1146, introduced by 
Representative Ron Paul, which calls on the United States to withdraw 
from the United Nations entirely. I have also cosponsored two related 
bills, which would impact our involvement in the United Nations in 
lesser ways. H.R. 800 would provide for the withholding of United 
States contributions to any U.N. commission, organization, or 
affiliated agency that is chaired or presided over by a country that 
has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. H. 
Con. Res. 116 takes this bill a step further, issuing a sense of 
Congress that the United States should withhold all payments to the 
United Nations until its bylaws are amended to prevent countries whose 
leaders are not democratically elected from holding a position of 
authority within the United Nations.

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