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White House Tries to Halt GOP Effort to Withhold U.N. Dues
 | Popcorn alert. You may also want to get a lawn chair and a refreshing beverage. |
The Bush administration moved on Wednesday to confront the Republican leadership in the House by opposing a bill that would withhold half the American dues to the United Nations unless it enacted several budget and management changes. State Department officials formally conveyed the administration's opposition to withholding dues to Capitol Hill on Wednesday, one day ahead of a scheduled House vote on the measure, which is popular among conservatives. The bill, backed by the House speaker, J. Dennis Hastert, is considered likely to pass but its prospects are less certain in the Senate in light of outright administration opposition. The administration had previously indicated only its uneasiness with the bill's position on withholding dues, which total about $400 million a year, hoping to get the provision quietly deleted. In an interview, R. Nicholas Burns under secretary of state for political affairs, said: "We are the founder of the U.N. We're the host country of the U.N. We're the leading contributor to the U.N. We don't want to put ourselves in a position where the United States is withholding 50 percent of the American contributions to the U.N. system." Representative Henry J. Hyde, an Illinois Republican and chairman of the House International Relations Committee, said that he was not surprised by the administration's opposition but that he was not persuaded. "The Constitution gives to Congress the power of the purse, and we intend to exercise it in pursuit of meaningful U.N. reform," a spokesman quoted him as saying.| Heh. UN forgot to make nicey-nice with Congress...more at the link. |
Posted by: Seafarious 2005-06-16 |
