THE U.N. LINE???
The U.N. doesn't get to vote on closing U.S. bases.
What the hell's the matter with you?
by John Whitesides
Monday, September 24, 2001 4:18 p.m. EDT
- - - - - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The House of Representatives, hoping to smooth U.S. efforts to rally diplomatic support for the "war on terrorism," gave final approval on Monday to a long-delayed $582 million debt payment to the United Nations.
On a unanimous voice vote
, House members backed a quick transfer of the second installment of U.S. debt to the world body in the aftermath of attacks on Washington and New York that left nearly 7,000 people dead or missing.
The battle over owed U.N. dues has frayed relations between Washington and the United Nations for years and threatened the U.S. leadership role there.
The payment, approved by the Senate in February, had been hung up in Congress for months by a series of political skirmishes, including House Republican Whip Tom DeLay's efforts to link it to a measure preventing U.S. cooperation with the International Criminal Court.
But DeLay dropped his objections and House members quickly approved the Senate-passed measure so the issue will not linger while President Bush tries to rally international support for counter-strikes against the those held responsible for the attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center.
"The United States cannot act alone and expect to prevail in this painful, long-term struggle against terrorism," said California Rep. Tom Lantos, ranking Democrat on the House International Relations Committee.
"The U.N. is the world's premier forum and will be one of the primary theaters for U.S. diplomacy on this matter," he said.
The payment is the second of three installments of back dues owed to the United Nations. The House approved it in May, but a House-Senate dispute over conditions for the payments and DeLay's attempts to link it to the international court issue delayed completion of the measure.
By passing the Senate-approved measure, the bill goes straight to Bush for fast enactment.
"Every day we fail to pay our debts to the U.N., we make our work that much more difficult," Connecticut Republican Rep. Christopher Shays said.
Under a deal brokered by former U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Richard Holbrooke, U.N. members agreed in December to cut the U.S. general dues assessment from 25 percent to 22 percent of the $1.1 billion annual administrative budget, and a separate assessment for peacekeeping from 31 percent to about 27 percent this year and 26.5 percent by 2003.
The deal did not fully meet the conditions set by Congress in a 1994 law and in legislation sponsored two years ago in the Senate by North Carolina Republican Jesse Helms and Delaware Democrat Joseph Biden that required the U.S. peacekeeping contribution be capped at 25 percent.
But Helms and other lawmakers say the United Nations has come far enough on reform efforts that Congress should go ahead with the payments.
The United States made the first payment of $100 million last year. The House has voted to freeze next year's third and last installment of $244 million in U.S. arrears to the United Nations until the United States regains its lost seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission.
The Senate has not taken up the issue of payment of the third installment of the back dues.
THEY ARE U.N BOYS NEXT WILL COME THE U.N COURT AND A TAX