House Republicans held a press conference on Capitol Hill this morning to tout their UN a la carte bill that would effectively de-fund the United Nations. The main point of the bill is to change the current system of dues-payments to fund the UN and UN peacekeeping to a system of voluntary contributions.
We’ve documented several times why this is such a bad idea — it would erode US global leadership in the short term and ending up costing American taxpayers more in the long term. But the House GOPers at the press conference today were undeterred.
In addition to House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Ileana Ros Lehtinen, in attendance were:
Rep. Peter Roskam (R-IL)
Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH)
Rep. Dan Burton (R-IL)
Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH)
Rep. Scott Garret (R-NJ)
Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY)
Rep. Robert Dold (R-FL)
Rep. Allen West (R-FL)
Ambassador John Bolton showed up at the end and gave an impromptu statement.
Their arguments were the regular re-hashing of UN bashing talking points. If you want a somewhat different perspective on why continued American support for the United Nations ought to be a cornerstone of American foreign policy, check out Let US Lead.