Dick Lugar: “as the distinguished Senators from Delaware and Maryland pointed out, and certainly Senator Biden was very heavily…”

“as the distinguished Senators from Delaware and Maryland pointed out, and certainly Senator Biden was very heavily involved in the Helms-Biden legislation of 1999, that legislation which came after considerable argument in the committee and in the Senate, perhaps in the country, about what our fair share ought to be, the Helms-Biden decision was that the U.S. share of peacekeeping duties would decline to 25 percent of the world total. That still remains the law and important goal of U.S. policy toward the United Nations, at least for many Senators. Expression has been made tonight that perhaps our Nation ought to be more generous, and that could very well be the result of negotiations with the United Nations, but the intent, at least, of the amendment that I offered earlier in the day would strike section 401, which established a permanent cap of 27.1 percent. Senator Biden's substitute changes that permanent idea to a 2-year cap of 27.1 so that perhaps pragmatically there is some room and time to come to some agreement either up or down from that point. I simply observe that this issue, long before Senator Helms and Senator Biden reached a bipartisan compromise in 1999, exercised strong feelings on both sides of the aisle. I appreciate very much the sentiment of the Senators who wish to preserve the 27.1 cap. As I pointed out earlier in the day, I believe that we ought to pay our dues.…”