Howard Berman: “to try to put the debate in perspective of the language in section 501, if 501 had been in place in 1990, $60 billion…”

“to try to put the debate in perspective of the language in section 501, if 501 had been in place in 1990, $60 billion that we spent in incremental costs on Desert Storm, $60 billion that was authorized by the United Nations because we went to the United Nations and got them to authorize it, would have been deducted and wiped out every peacekeeping cost for the next 50 years, even though the vast majority of that money was reimbursed by other countries. This inflexible, silly language makes no provision for costs that are reimbursed for other countries that have to be reimbursed for the United States. Second, yes, we can construe U.N.-authorized operations and attribute percent of the costs. It does not cover what is wiped out. You have wiped out U.N.-assessed costs where after this fiscal year we will only pay 25 percent. The other costs are operations we want to help ourselves diplomatically, politically, and militarily in terms of enforcing embargoes we got the United Nations to authorize so other countries would help us, help us. Penny-wise, pound-foolish, this amendment. Finally, to remind Members, nothing is undertaken by the United Nations unless the United States decides it. If we do not like a specific U.N. operation, whether it is Somalia or Haiti, fight on that issue. Do no wipe out all of the good because of one thing you do not like. It is the end of the cold war.…”