Global Policy Forum

By Vicki Allen

The Senate voted on Wednesday to reduce the U.S. share of U.N. peacekeeping costs, a plan backers said would boost U.S. negotiating power in lowering its peacekeeping burden and seeking U.N. reforms. The Senate agreed to a Republican-backed measure to reduce the cap on the U.S. share of U.N. peacekeeping costs to 25 percent from the current 27.1 percent. It rejected 40-57 a Democratic amendment to keep the current contribution for at least two more years.

"The negotiations at the U.N. regarding U.N. reform and the lowering of U.N. peacekeeping dues is underway. Let us ensure that our next ambassador to the United Nations has an opportunity to go to New York and work on this issue," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee next week is to hold a confirmation hearing on John Bolton, a long-time U.N. critic, to be U.S. ambassador to the world body.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, said the amendment to reduce the peacekeeping commitment represented "the views of those senators" who want upcoming negotiations on U.N. reforms to include the issue of peacekeeping obligations. Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware, top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States was dealing the United Nations "a double whammy" by naming Bolton, who he called "the worst person we could possibly send" as ambassador, as it cuts its peacekeeping commitment.

Biden also said President Bush did not specifically ask Congress to reduce the share, and included the 27.1 percent level in his budget. The amendment was included in a two-year $34 billion bill authorizing State Department and foreign aid programs under debate in the Senate. The periodic bill has not been signed into law since the mid-1980s, partly because of disputes over a ban on U.S. family planning assistance funds to nongovernmental organizations that engage in abortion-related activities.

The Senate on Tuesday voted to repeal that ban, which drew a threat from the White House that Bush would veto the bill. The House of Representatives, which repeatedly has backed the ban, has not yet taken up its version of the bill. The White House endorsed much of the Senate's foreign assistance bill, which authorizes the $3 billion Bush wanted for his Millennium Challenge foreign aid program to reward countries that make political and economic reforms. The bill also creates a special office for Stabilization and Reconstruction activities, building on lessons learned from Iraq and Afghanistan.