The new Republican majority in the House is poised to revive some old battles over the U.S. government's financial contribution to the United Nations, vowing once again to use the power of America's purse to force what it calls needed reforms at the world body.
New House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen told The Washington Times that she plans to use the threat to withhold U.S. dues payments to force U.N. officials to cut costs and clean up the organization's image, a sharp break from the approach and political rhetoric used when Democrats ran the House.
"The majority of our members are on board to reform the corrupt and mismanaged U.N. and get a much better return for our dollars," the Florida Republican said in an interview. "Cutting the budget is not enough, because you need to reform the monster, you need to reform the beast, and if you don't get fundamental reform, you are still rewarding a corrupt, mismanaged agency."
Before the Obama administration came to power, the issue of U.S. "arrears" to the U.N. was a long-running battle on Capitol Hill and a diplomatic sore spot for the State Department, which argued the U.S. failure to pay its dues undercut other foreign-policy goals.
One early sign of Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen's seriousness: The first scheduled hearing of her committee was titled "The United Nations: Urgent Problems That Need Congressional Action." Originally set for Jan. 12, the hearing was postponed last week after the shootings in Tucson, Ariz., and now is slated for Jan. 25.
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New House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen told The Washington Times that she plans to use the threat to withhold U.S. dues payments to force U.N. officials to cut costs and clean up the organization's image, a sharp break from the approach and political rhetoric used when Democrats ran the House.
"The majority of our members are on board to reform the corrupt and mismanaged U.N. and get a much better return for our dollars," the Florida Republican said in an interview. "Cutting the budget is not enough, because you need to reform the monster, you need to reform the beast, and if you don't get fundamental reform, you are still rewarding a corrupt, mismanaged agency."
Before the Obama administration came to power, the issue of U.S. "arrears" to the U.N. was a long-running battle on Capitol Hill and a diplomatic sore spot for the State Department, which argued the U.S. failure to pay its dues undercut other foreign-policy goals.
One early sign of Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen's seriousness: The first scheduled hearing of her committee was titled "The United Nations: Urgent Problems That Need Congressional Action." Originally set for Jan. 12, the hearing was postponed last week after the shootings in Tucson, Ariz., and now is slated for Jan. 25.
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