[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 10980]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 MAKING U.N. DUES ASSESSMENTS MORE FAIR

  (Mr. STEARNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, the assessment of member dues at the United 
Nations has always been something of a joke. Japan pays 19.5 percent of 
the U.N. budget and does not even get a chance to sit on the Security 
Council. By contrast, Security Council members Russia and China 
contribute only 1 percent and 2 percent respectively to the U.N.'s 
multibillion dollar budget. We pay over 22 percent.
  Currently, the U.N. bases assessments on gross national income 
figures, the proper measure of which cannot be taken when currencies 
are not convertible. The United States recently proposed that 
assessments be calculated the World Bank way, using data on purchasing 
power parity, to better reflect what states can afford. This would 
raise Russia's share of the budget to about 2.5 percent, China's to 
13.7 percent, leaving America's mostly unchanged.
  Should they not want this recognition, under the new accounting 
method, China's share of world gross domestic product rises to second 
place from seventh, just as Russia's rises to 10th place from 16th?

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