[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 14]
[House]
[Page 20205]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 UNESCO

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, the Obama administration is making a 
push to get Congress to give the President the authority to waive a 
legal prohibition on U.S. contributions to UNESCO. If the U.S. waives 
this prohibition and resumes payments to UNESCO, it will erode our 
credibility, and it will give the Palestinians and the U.N. the green 
light to continue the scheme to unilaterally declare a Palestinian 
state without direct negotiations with the democratic Jewish State of 
Israel.
  If you add what our yearly contribution would be plus arrears, the 
American taxpayers, our constituents, could be on the hook for over 
half a billion dollars in just a couple of years.
  Mr. Speaker, we know that our law has worked to prevent the 
Palestinians from joining other specialized agencies at the U.N., but 
if Congress relents on this issue, the Palestinians will say: Let's 
continue to bypass Israel and go to the U.N. for recognition.
  I will continue to vehemently oppose this waiver, Mr. Speaker, and I 
ask my colleagues to stand with me.

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