S.Amdt. 831

1. Adds SEC. __. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON UNITED NATIONS TRANSPARENCY wherever appropriate

   Adds a section

   Inserted: SEC. __. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON UNITED NATIONS TRANSPARENCY.

   Inserted: (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:

   Inserted: (1) The United States taxpayer provides the United Nations with over $5,000,000,000 annually, representing up to 25 percent of all funds received by the United Nations, even though the United States is only 1 of 192 United Nations members.

   Inserted: (2) In 2008, the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Senate found that the United Nations lead development entity, the United Nations Development Program, diverted development funds to the entity used by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to finance illicit missile sales and permitted the Government of North Korea to use United Nations bank accounts to freely transfer cash around the world and elude detection and sanctions.

   Inserted: (3) The United Nations Procurement Task Force reported in 2008 that the United Nations Environment Program, which spends over $1,000,000,000 annually and receives almost 10 percent of its budget from United States taxpayers, conducts almost no auditing or oversight of its spending, has one auditor and one assistant to inspect its operations, and would take 17 years to audit its high-risk areas already identified.

   Inserted: (4) The United Nations Procurement Task Force reported in 2008 that poor data collection across the United Nations system makes it impossible to determine whether a United Nations program is relevant or effective.

   Inserted: (5) The United Nations Procurement Task Force reported in 2008 that United Nations resource allocation and performance assessments do not take into account whether or not results have been achieved.

   Inserted: (6) The Department of State reported in 2007 that the United Nations 2008/2009 Biennial Budget represents the largest increase in its funding request in United Nations history, in excess of $5,200,000,000 and representing a 25 percent increase from the previous biennial budget.

   Inserted: (7) The Department of State reported in 2007 that, in the previous 5 years, the United Nations budget has grown at a record 17 percent, the United Nations Peacekeeping budget has grown by 40 percent, and the United Nations Tribunals budget has grown by 15 percent, but the United States budget has only grown 7 percent during the same period.

   Inserted: (8) The Department of State reported in 2007 that the overwhelming majority of the United Nations budget, 75 percent, is diverted to costs associated with its staff instead of direct humanitarian assistance or conflict prevention.

   Inserted: (9) United Nations auditors in 2007 found that 43 percent of over $1,000,000,000 in audited procurement contracts were tainted by fraud and corruption.

   Inserted: (10) The official policy at the Department of State for United Nations reform, as implemented through the United Nations Transparency and Accountability Initiative, is to press the United Nations to reform by providing access to United Nations audits, budget information and procurement activities, instituting legitimate whistleblower protections, financial disclosure policies, and an ethics office, providing independence for its internal oversight bodies, adopting international accounting standards, and establishing a cap on administrative overhead costs for United Nations funds and programs.

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   Inserted: (11) The Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act (Public Law 109-282; 31 U.S.C. 6101 note) requires all federal funding information to be put on the public website, USAspending.gov, including all contract, subcontract, grant, and subgrant data such as the amount of the award, source of funds, and the intended purpose of the funds.

   Inserted: (12) Section 212 of this resolution creates a deficit-neutral reserve fund for a bipartisan congressional sunset commission that is tasked with providing "for a process that will help abolish obsolete and duplicative Federal programs" and "for improved government accountability and greater openness in Government decision-making".

   Inserted: (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that no appropriated funds should be obligated, expended, or otherwise made available for the United Nations or any subsidiary body of the United Nations, including any organization that is authorized to use the United Nations logo, for a fiscal year unless the Director of the Office of Management and Budget certifies that the United Nations, such subsidiary body of the United Nations, or such organization, as the case may be, is fully and publicly transparent about all of its spending, including for procurement purposes, that occurred during the prior fiscal year, including the posting on a publicly available website of--

   Inserted: (1) copies of all contracts, grants, subcontracts, and subgrants awarded or utilized during the prior fiscal year;

   Inserted: (2) copies of all program reviews, audits, budgets, project progress reports, and other management documents relating to the prior fiscal year; and

   Inserted: (3) any other financial or management information determined necessary by the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.

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   Original wording

   At the appropriate place, insert the following:

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As printed