Posted on 12/30/2016 5:17:26 AM PST by HomerBohn
Congress is already setting the stage to cut off U.S. funding to the United Nations in the wake of a contested vote last week in which the Obama administration permitted an anti-Israel resolution to win overwhelming approval, according to congressional leaders, who told the Washington Free Beacon that the current administration is already plotting to take further action against the Jewish state before vacating office.
Other punitive actions by Congress could include expelling Palestinian diplomats from U.S. soil and scaling back ties with foreign nations that voted in favor of the controversial measure, according to multiple sources who spoke to the Free Beacon about the situation both on and off the record.
The Obama administration is still under bipartisan attack for its decision to help craft and facilitate the passage of a U.N. resolution condemning the construction of Jewish homes in Jerusalem, a move that reversed years of U.S. policy on the matter.
The Free Beacon was the first to disclose on Monday that senior Obama administration officials played a key role in ensuring the measure was passed unanimously by the U.N. Security Council. This included a phone call by Vice President Joe Biden to Ukraine’s president to ensure that country voted in favor of the measure.
While Biden’s office continues to dispute the claim, reporters in Israel and Europe confirmed in the intervening days that the call between Biden and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko did in fact take place.
With anger over the issue still roiling, leading members of Congress told the Free Beacon on Wednesday that they will not delay in seeking retribution against the U.N. for the vote. This could include cutting off U.S. funding for the U.N. and stripping the Palestinian mission’s diplomatic privileges.
Lawmakers also will work to rebuff further attempts by the Obama administration to chastise Israel on the international stage. This would include freezing funds that could be spent by the administration on further U.N. action.
“The disgraceful anti-Israel resolution passed by the UNSC was apparently only the opening salvo in the Obama administration’s final assault on Israel,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas) told the Free Beacon. “President Obama, Secretary Kerry, Ambassador Power, and their colleagues should remember that the United States Congress reconvenes on January 3rd, and under the Constitution we control the taxpayer funds they would use for their anti-Israel initiatives.”
“The 115th Congress must stop the current administration’s vicious attack on our great ally Israel, and address the major priorities of the incoming administration,” Cruz said, expressing his desire to work with the incoming Trump administration to reset the U.S. relationship with Israel.< Senior congressional sources currently working on the issue further disclosed to the Free Beacon that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are in an uproar over the Obama administration, which they accuse of plotting behind closed doors to smear Israel.
“Not content with spending the last eight years using the United Nations to undermine American sovereignty, the Obama administration has finally trained their sights on Israel and is trying to exploit this unelected and unaccountable international body to impose their resolution of the Palestinian issue on Israel,” one senior congressional aide told the Free Beacon. “Enough is enough.”
While the Trump administration will not take office until the end of January, Congress will be working overtime before then to stop the Obama administration from further damaging the U.S.-Israel relationship, according to the source, who hinted that a full cut-off of U.S. funding to the U.N. currently is on the table.
“A new administration will arrive on January 20th, but in the intervening weeks Congress has an important role mitigating the damage President Obama can do in his final hours,” the source said. “Why on earth would we throw good taxpayer dollars after bad in support of the UN, which has proven itself again and again utterly unable to encourage any positive progress? Just take Syria — if they were doing anything over the last five years, it should have been working out a fair and equitable adjudication of the Syrian war.”
“Instead, they’ve proven themselves utterly useless–in fact they’ve probably made a gut-wrenching catastrophe worse,” the source explained. “There’s no reason to think this action will turn out any more favorably.”
A second senior congressional aide working on a package of repercussions expressed fear that the U.N. vote was just the first salvo targeting Israel.
“The question now is whether this was the finale or the prologue of what this administration has planned against Israel,” the source said, adding that “everything is on the table right now — including funding cuts and scaling back diplomatic relations with countries that brought forward this resolution.”
A similar list of punitive actions was confirmed by multiple congressional sources who spoke to the Free Beacon about the matter. The sources were granted anonymity so they could speak freely.
“Obama went to the U.N. because a U.N. resolution is functionally irreversible by normal means,” added a veteran foreign policy insider who is currently working with the incoming Trump administration. “Obama’s goal was to eliminate any limited options that could be used to repair the damage to Israel, and he gambled that Trump and Congress would be too intimidated to use the remaining big stick options. He’s going to lose that gamble.”
“American leaders will now use exactly those options,” the source explained. “Everything is on the table, from systematically going after the U.N., to moving the U.S. embassy into parts of Jerusalem the U.N. says aren’t Israeli, to kicking the Palestinians out of Washington.”
“Members on both sides of the aisle are furious, so our response will be swift and forceful,” the second congressional source said. “With a Trump administration in place, any nation that seeks to delegitimize the Jewish state will need to answer to the United States.”
This demonstrates, precisely, the danger of continuing resolutions. When Speaker Ryan assented to unregulated administration spending, the Congress implicitly agreed with every spending priority of this cancer of a president. If the frightened and lazy republican leadership had functioned as past congressional leaders had, they would have passed the separate funding bills and placed their own priorities on the direction of government. There would be no reason to pass a spending restriction bill because congress would have already outlined the lawful use of government spending authority.
I agree with that. 0bama makes LBJ and Carter look good.
I was thinking that same thing this morning, insane like some of the ancient Roman leaders. He is probably consumed with jealousy because Trump has gotten so much attention during the transition and decided he was going to do something to get the focus back on himself.
Thank God we will have adult leadership beginning 20 January!
Pardon my skepticism, but Congress always talks about action, yet little actually happens quickly.
Plus, Obama can just as quickly veto any laws passed by Congress. I doubt Democrats would join with Republicans to override such a veto, certainly not in less than 3 weeks.
If he wants to stop Obama for good, Trump should give him a call & threaten to have AG Sessions create a permanent team at Justice to investigate every aspect of the Obama tenure, not just Clinton, & any law breaking found will be brought before a grand jury.
Note that Obama is not immune from prosecution after he leaves office, nor are his many henchmen.
Obama is playing hard ball. Trump needs to take off the gloves & remind Obama that he is in a very vulnerable position after leaving office & there is a paper (electronic) trail that can circle the globe multiple times.
Wrong! It’s called “Checks & Balances”.
Move the UN headquarters to Jerusalem.
The SS had better search the White House for IEDs before Trump moves in.
The trip was only a short jump.
In 1997 legislation H.R.1146 was introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Congressman Ron Paul of Texas under the label “American Sovereignty Restoration Act”. In addition to withdrawal, the bill also proposed expelling the United Nations Headquarters from its territory within the City of New York[12] and no longer providing the large plurality of funds which the US contributes to the UN annually.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_withdrawal_from_the_United_Nations
It makes you almost miss the days when the Clintons merely took the W's off of the keyboards and stole some furniture and silverware.
Below those two? That’s really low on the totem pole. But BO’B has said he prefers to lead from behind; far less dangerous to lead from behind SOMETHING and allow the shots being fired to shoot right past you.
On the bright side, he's a fairly young man person entity, we can look forward to decades of him touring the world and bad-mouthing America...
Just like Jimmy Carter!
Lead from behind is an oxymoron said by a moron.
I just think of that lead sled dog has a better view saying
OK here is my list during my life time.
1-Reagan
2-JFK
3-Ike
4-Bush-HW
5-Bush-W
6-Nixon
7-Clinton
8-Ford
9-LBJ
10-Carter
11-Obama
A douche bag performs a needed function, BO’B does not
A lot of people have been calling for the US to get out of the UN for sometime now, and they have been branded as "right wing nuts".
Now Hussein 0bama and J F'ing Kerry, by their usual bumbling, stupidity, have set the stage to make it MUCH, MUCH easier.
This is the Congress that passed the Ministry of Truth bill that Barry just signed.
They haven’t done anything on this or any other Obama overreaches.
Congress is still hiding its balls in the closet. Until they bring out the bats, we’ll see no balls.
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