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Bush rejects withholding US dues from UN Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
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White House rejects withholding U.S. dues from U.N.
Thu Jun 16, 2005 02:16 PM ET
By Arshad Mohammed
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration rejected a Republican plan to withhold U.S. dues from the United Nations but stopped short of threatening to veto the bill which the House of Representatives may take up on Thursday.
The administration said it would likely support Japan and only one or so other nations for permanent seats on the U.N. Security Council as countries prepare to reform the world body after scandals ranging from sex abuse by U.N. peacekeepers to allegations of corruption in the Iraq oil-for-food program.
Pitting itself against some Republican allies in Congress, the administration opposed part of a bill sponsored by House International Relations Committee chairman Rep. Henry Hyde, an influential Illinois Republican, to withhold half of U.S. dues to the U.N. if reforms are not enacted.
"We think this provision is unacceptable," Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns told reporters, saying the bill would undermine U.S. credibility and effectiveness at the U.N.
While the administration did not oppose all of the bill, Burns objected to a portion that officials believed would infringe on the president's constitutional prerogatives to conduct foreign policy.
Hyde rejected the administration's stance, saying: "The Constitution gives to Congress the power of the purse, and we intend to exercise it in pursuit of meaningful U.N. reform."
The United States is the biggest donor to the United Nations, contributing 22 percent of the regular operating budget and nearly 27 percent of the peacekeeping budget.
The last time Congress withheld U.N. dues in the 1990s the United States accumulated such high arrears it nearly lost its vote in the General Assembly and crippled many U.N. programs.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the administration would detail its objections to the Hyde bill in a formal statement. Asked if this would include a veto threat, he said: "I don't expect that to be included in there."
JAPAN GETS NOD
Congressional aides believe the bill is unlikely to become law. If it passes in the Republican-led House it is unlikely to make it through the Senate, which has not shown an interest in such sharp cuts and where there is no comparable bill. Even then, it could be vetoed by President Bush.
At a hastily arranged briefing, Burns detailed the U.S. position on U.N. reform, saying Washington wanted management, budget and accountability issues to be taken up before the thorny question of expanding the Security Council.
He said Washington favored overhauling the Geneva-based U.N. Commission on Human Rights, where countries notorious for rights abuses, such as Zimbabwe, can sit in judgment, in favor of a new council of states not subject to U.N. sanctions.
Burns also called for agreement on a comprehensive convention on counterterrorism.
Many nations are jockeyeing to join the council, which has five permanent veto-holding members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- and 10 rotating members.
Burns said the United States will likely support "two or so new permanent members" -- including Japan -- as well as "two or three additional nonpermanent seats," arguing a larger expansion may make the body unwieldy and ineffective.
His stance made clear Washington had little enthusiasm for a framework resolution floated by Brazil, Germany, India and Japan that would expand from the council from 15 to 25, without giving the names of countries. If that gets a two-thirds vote in the 191-member General Assembly, the four want permanent seats for themselves and two for Africa.
Washington has not put forward its own detailed plan.
(Additional reporting by Vicki Allen, Adam Entous and Sue Pleming in Washington and by Evelyn Leopold at the United Nations)
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