U.N. funding

Nine former ambassadors tell Congress to protect U.N. funding

By NOLAN D. MCCASKILL

Former U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations on Tuesday urged Congress not to cut the organization’s funding, as President Donald Trump’s skinny budget proposes, warning that the U.S. could pay the price in the long run.

“We understand frustration in Congress at what can seem a needlessly slow pace of critical management, budgetary, and accountability reforms at the U.N., all of which we have fought hard to advance during our respective tenures at the helm of the U.S. Mission in New York,” the nine ambassadors wrote in a letter to House and Senate leaders.

“We fought those battles differently and did not always agree. Nevertheless, in our experience, the U.S. is much more effective in pressing reforms when it stays engaged and pays its dues and bills,” the letter said. “Withholding or slashing funding for the U.N., by contrast, weakens our hand, alienates allies whose support is critical to our reform priorities, undermines essential U.N. activities that promote core American interests and values, and costs us more over the long term. It also cedes the agenda to countries that can be hostile to our interests and more than willing to see the U.S. give up its seat at the table.”

Trump’s proposed budget eliminates funding for U.N. climate change programs and slashes funding overall for the U.N. and related agencies, including peacekeeping efforts and international organizations.

Trump hosted ambassadors on the U.N. Security Council at the White House on Monday. He called the U.N. “an underperformer” but noted it “has tremendous potential” and argued that its budget needs to be examined because “costs have absolutely gone out of control.” He also jokingly jabbed Nikki Haley, America’s current U.N. ambassador, asking if everyone likes her.

“Otherwise she could be easily replaced, right?” he quipped. “No, we won’t do that. I promise you we won’t do that.”

The former ambassadors, a combination of diplomats who served under Republican and Democratic administrations, include Samantha Power, Susan Rice, John Negroponte, Bill Richardson, Madeleine Albright, Edward Perkins, Thomas Pickering, Donald McHenry and Andrew Young.

In the letter, they acknowledged the U.N.’s shortcomings — they said it’s imperfect and needs reform — but insisted that it “remains an indispensable instrument for advancing the global stability and prosperity on which U.S. interests and priorities depend.”

“We therefore urge you to support U.S. leadership at the U.N., including through continued payment of our assessed and voluntary financial contributions to the Organization,” they wrote.

Highlighting the conflict in the Middle East, a saber-rattling North Korea and the growing threat of extremism and organized crime, the former diplomats argued that “[t]he U.S., despite its wealth and military might, cannot afford to take on these issues alone, nor should it have to.”