Political Quotes

“for some time now, the United States has been providing what amounts to pro bono support for U.N. peacekeeping activities. But what is pro bono for the United Nations is double billing to the American people. Under an antiquated assessment system that does not take into account economic realities of the last 30 years, including the growth of Germany, Japan, and China, the United States is assessed over 31 percent of the United Nations peacekeeping budget. In the State Department Authorization Act recently signed into law, Congress took steps to force the administration to address this inequity and reduce the proportion of our assessment. Today we have an opportunity to address another inequity in the U.N. assessment formula. When President Bush sent armed forces on a mission to Somalia in December 1992, it was to enforce a U.N. Security Council resolution. Although our forces were fulfilling a U.N. mandate, the costs were all absorbed by the American taxpayer. Hear me, the American taxpayer. Only after the mission was formally turned back over to the United Nations were the costs shared by other countries in addition to ourselves. The administration ultimately requested a supplemental appropriation of $750 million to cover part of the cost of the mission, choosing to absorb the other costs in the regular Department of Defense budget. We passed that supplemental spending bill earlier this year.…”