Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told The Hill that oversight would be a key function of the panel, particularly funding to the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) that is "a waste of taxpayer dollars."Don't be so narrow-minded, Ileana, there's lots of other parts of the federal budget that are also a waste...
"I'd like to make sure that we once and for all kill all U.S. funding for that beast," she said last month. "Because I don't think that it advances U.S. interests, I don't think that that's a pro-democracy group, it's a rogue's gallery, pariah states, they belong there because they don't want to be sanctioned."
Thus making clear what the progressive community would like to obfuscate.
Supporters of continued U.S. support of and participation on the HRC say that it's essential that Washington have leverage on the panel, renowned for including countries that have their own records of human-rights violations.
Supporters who say things like "We have to pass the bill to find out what's in it!"
That whole 'leverage' idea has worked well so far, hasn't it...