Doug Bereuter: “What I am suggesting and what I was able to do in the committee is to assure that at least incremental costs are to be…”

“What I am suggesting and what I was able to do in the committee is to assure that at least incremental costs are to be offset. We have a tremendous expenditure of funds. We have an important role to play in peacekeeping. But as I suggested to the Secretary of State when he appeared before us, the status quo is not acceptable. We have to have some changes in the way our assessments are calculated. Mr. Chairman, I would be absolutely convinced that even though our peacekeeping assessment is 30.7 percent, and even though the last Congress said by resolution that we are going to reduce it to 25 percent, supporters of the United Nations, perhaps even the Clinton administration, will come to us later this year and say again next year, and perhaps next year, 'You are in arrearage,' even though we had expressed our clear intent to pay no more than 25 percent. That is a very generous share, because when we consider all of our other calculated costs, incremental costs and others, we are paying far, far beyond 25 percent. We are paying more than 50 percent. Recently we paid 80 percent.”