On the recordFebruary 9, 2011
We do get $179 million back into the Treasury, which the CBO does not count as a savings, but if we pass this, we do get the money back. It is obvious that these security upgrades should be funded through the U.N. capital master plan, that is, the $2 billion 5-year effort to renovate the U.N. headquarters in New York. We do know that by raiding the TEF overpayments owed to American taxpayers, rather than funding the construction properly through the capital master plan, we do know that the State Department and the U.N. will stick American taxpayers with 100 percent of the bill rather than the 22 percent we would owe if it was funded through proper channels. That is what this debate is about. It is not about whether U.N. headquarters in New York should have adequate security. It is about how the costs of that security should be apportioned and whether the funding process can bear even minimal scrutiny. U.S. overpayments into the tax equalization fund are owed to the United States and the State Department should instruct the U.N. to return that money. Now, when the U.N. is sitting on hundreds of millions of dollars--in this case the U.N. actually told us about it. That is good to know. But one thing has kept it from being returned to the Treasury, and that is the U.S. hasn't asked for its money back. When we Americans are overassessed or overpay the IRS, we get a refund. Well, when the Obama administration overpays the United Nations, they say, keep the check.
