Rick Lazio: “we have a chance tonight to help the United Nations enforce its own rules. We have passed strict reforms in Congress to…”

“we have a chance tonight to help the United Nations enforce its own rules. We have passed strict reforms in Congress to ensure that our citizens in America fulfill their obligations to their children and their spouses, yet many children and former spouses living in New York have not received the basic support they need to survive. As a matter of fact, I should extend that to my neighboring States of Connecticut and New Jersey as well. Their spouses are not bound by our laws to provide or even to furnish the courts with the salary information needed to process their claims. They are able to avoid responsibility simply because they are employed by the United Nations. In most family support cases, a family who fails to comply with court orders could have their wages garnished. They may even face jail time. But this is not the case, however, with U.N. staff. Until 1994, the United Nations would not release any information regarding the salary of its employees. Even with the court order of support, spouses and children were left without payment and without recourse. In effect, the United Nations staffers living in New York had no obligations to their families. Lacking any legal remedy, their spouses and children were simply abandoned in American cities.”