UN Drops WW
Posted on 03/13/2017 5:21:28 PM PDT by markomalley
President Trump’s administration has told the State Department to cut more than 50 percent of U.S. funding to United Nations programs, Foreign Policy reported.
The push for the drastic reductions comes as the White House is scheduled to release its 2018 topline budget proposal Thursday, which is expected to include a 37 percent cut to the State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development budgets.
It's not clear if Trump's budget plan, from the Office of Management and Budget, would reflect the full extent of Trump's proposed cuts to the U.N.
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has suggested phasing in the major reductions over the coming three years. One official close the administration told Foreign Policy that Tillerson has flexibility about how best to implement the reduction.
The U.S. spends roughly $10 billion annually on the U.N., and the cuts could have the greatest impact on peacekeeping, the U.N. development program and UNICEF, which are funded by State's Bureau of International Organization Affairs.
The fate of other popular programs, like the World Food Programme and U.N. refugee operations, are less clear. The World Food Programme's funding comes from the Department of Agriculture.
The magazine said it confirmed the potential cuts with three sources; one said the administration is considering cutting humanitarian aid programs by 36 percent.
Richard Gowan, a U.N. expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the alterations would spark “chaos” if true.
“[It would] leave a gaping hole that other big donors would struggle to fill,” he told FP, pointing to how the U.S. provided $1.5 billion of the U.N. refugee agency’s $4 billion budget last year.
“Multiply that across other humanitarian agencies like the World Food Programme and you are basically talking about the breakdown of the international humanitarian system as we know it.”
Foreign Policy added U.S. diplomats warned key U.N. members to “expect a big financial restraint” on American spending at the U.N. during a March 9 meeting in New York City.
“There are rumors of big cuts to the State Department budget, but again, on our side, no figures,” one diplomat purportedly told donors from Europe, Japan and South Korea.
Administration officials said last month that Trump’s budget would contain $54 billion in domestic non-discretionary spending cuts to pay for an equal increase in defense spending.
Trump has repeatedly vowed to strengthen the military before the release of the 2018 budget, which is the first such proposal of his presidency.
It’s a start
Take the money and buy land and build a new facility in Lagos. Make them move there.
If only there were any other countries in the UN.
Maybe soros will step in and take up some of the slack?
The UN should go the way of the League of Nations.
No dough for any country who does not have diplomatic relations with israel.
Here’s my phase in: half today, the remainder tomorrow.
Exactly. No need to be abrupt. That's a mighty nice chunk of NY real estate they got going there. They could run their operation out of a rental unit in Gambia for years for what they'd get for that.
For sure. The League of Nations was merely useless. The United Nations has become an enemy combatant against the United States.
It is a fantastic start.
Congratulations, President Trump!
(Now if we could only talk to you about that massive new tax credit entitlement that you claimed today has to go into reconciliation because the rest of a legitimate Obamacare repeal somehow can’t...)
I want 99% cut. 1% to show that we still “care’ about the world and all that crap..
You don’t want the Star Wars bar scene hanging around Lagos. No way.
I see benefits to keeping them in the western hemisphere. I think Port-Au-Prince would be a much better choice. Heck, they even speak French so diplomats should have no issues with this.
AH; fond memories of the Wolfman.
I favor Harare, but would not complain about Lagos.
It needs to be 100% more than 50%.
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