United Nations dues held hostage in Congress
President Obama entered office vowing to fully pay U.S. dues to international organizations, but his administration’s efforts to do so have hit a snag: Tom Coburn. Today comes word that the State Department is circulating a memo on Capitol Hill opposing a measure by the Oklahoma Senator that would shift funds currently designated for U.S. ...
President Obama entered office vowing to fully pay U.S. dues to international organizations, but his administration's efforts to do so have hit a snag: Tom Coburn.
President Obama entered office vowing to fully pay U.S. dues to international organizations, but his administration’s efforts to do so have hit a snag: Tom Coburn.
Today comes word that the State Department is circulating a memo on Capitol Hill opposing a measure by the Oklahoma Senator that would shift funds currently designated for U.S. contributions to the United Nations for new benefits for American veterans.
The document points out that the U.S. has just finally paid its back bill owed to the U.N. after 10 years of being in arrears.
"The full payment of assessed contributions affects the standing and influence that the U.S. has at these organizations," the State Department memo reads. "As we call upon others to help reform and strengthen the UN, the United States must do its part — and pay its bills."
Foggy Bottom is just the latest actor to be roped into Coburn’s ongoing feud with Veterans’ Affairs Committee Chairman Daniel Akaka, D-HI, over Akaka’s bill to authorize money for family caregivers tending to injured soldiers returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan and other new benefits that the Congressional Budget Office estimates will cost $3.7 billion. Akaka’s bill has wide support, but Coburn has been holding it up as part of his promise to oppose any bill that isn’t specifically paid for in advance.
The fight got dramatic last week when Akaka held a press conference to criticize Coburn’s intransigence and Coburn showed up and sat in the front row. Coburn waved smugly at Akaka during the event and then got up and held his own impromptu presser to defend his position. Senate Democrats were not amused.
Late Tuesday, the Democrats and Republicans came to an agreement to vote on the bill, including a separate vote on Coburn’s amendment.
"Paying for veterans’ benefits is a cost of war; this is not the appropriate place or time for a debate about the United Nations," Akaka’s spokesman Jesse Broder Van Dyke told The Cable. "Diplomacy can prevent wars so we shouldn’t shortchange that. Our veterans shouldn’t be used as pawns in that debate."
Coburn spokesman John Hart disagreed. "Dr. Coburn hopes his colleagues will put the needs of our wounded veterans ahead of the wishes of corrupt bureaucrats at the United Nations," he told The Cable.
The vote on Coburn’s amendment will probably come tomorrow.
Josh Rogin covers national security and foreign policy and writes the daily Web column The Cable. His column appears bi-weekly in the print edition of The Washington Post. He can be reached for comments or tips at josh.rogin@foreignpolicy.com.
Previously, Josh covered defense and foreign policy as a staff writer for Congressional Quarterly, writing extensively on Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantánamo Bay, U.S.-Asia relations, defense budgeting and appropriations, and the defense lobbying and contracting industries. Prior to that, he covered military modernization, cyber warfare, space, and missile defense for Federal Computer Week Magazine. He has also served as Pentagon Staff Reporter for the Asahi Shimbun, Japan's leading daily newspaper, in its Washington, D.C., bureau, where he reported on U.S.-Japan relations, Chinese military modernization, the North Korean nuclear crisis, and more.
A graduate of George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs, Josh lived in Yokohama, Japan, and studied at Tokyo's Sophia University. He speaks conversational Japanese and has reported from the region. He has also worked at the House International Relations Committee, the Embassy of Japan, and the Brookings Institution.
Josh's reporting has been featured on CNN, MSNBC, C-Span, CBS, ABC, NPR, WTOP, and several other outlets. He was a 2008-2009 National Press Foundation's Paul Miller Washington Reporting Fellow, 2009 military reporting fellow with the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism and the 2011 recipient of the InterAction Award for Excellence in International Reporting. He hails from Philadelphia and lives in Washington, D.C. Twitter: @joshrogin
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