On the recordFebruary 18, 2011
The Broun amendment would withhold U.S.- assessed contributions to the U.N., directly contravening U.S. treaty obligations and national security interests. It would isolate the U.S., cripple U.S. diplomatic efforts globally, weaken our leadership within the U.N. to advance crucial foreign policy priorities. The U.N. is critical to advancing U.S. national security interests, and the Broun amendment would impede our ability to influence crucial counterterrorism actions at the U.N. Security Council, including concrete steps targeting al Qaeda and the Taliban, global action addressing the conduct of regimes such as North Korea and Iran, on which the Security Council has acted forcefully in recent years, imposing the most comprehensive sanctions ever on these regimes, U.N. missions in Afghanistan and Iraq, which play crucial and growing roles in both countries, supplementing U.S. efforts and reducing our burden. U.N. peacekeeping operations, which are an indispensable tool, have saved untold lives, averted dozens of wars, and helped restore or establish democratic rule in more than a dozen countries. The Broun amendment would put the U.S. on a dangerous path to isolationism. We learned on September 11, 2001, that we are not immune from events that take place halfway around the world. There are enormous challenges that we all must face together, and the United States cannot close its borders and think that we can protect our own security.
