Benjamin Gilman: “I am pleased to rise in support of the Michel-Gingrich-Hyde-Gilman-Spence amendment. This amendment will, for the first…”

“I am pleased to rise in support of the Michel-Gingrich-Hyde-Gilman-Spence amendment. This amendment will, for the first time, require that our Nation's peacekeeping payments to the United Nations be adjusted to take account of in-kind contributions to U.N. peacekeeping operations by the Department of Defense. The logic of this amendment is simple and powerful. Every year, DOD spends millions of dollars for U.S. participation in and support for U.N. peacekeeping operations, with little or no reimbursement from the United Nations. And every year, the United Nations has been assessing us for 31.7 percent of the total cost of its peacekeeping operations. That's a bill that traditionally has been paid in cash by the State Department. This amendment requires that DOD's peacekeeping expenditures be offset against our U.N. peacekeeping assessment before the State Department makes cash payments to the United Nations. In effect, the United States will begin to pay part of its U.N. bill in kind rather than in cash. This is an important, long overdue innovation that addresses a growing problem.”