To provide for the withholding of United States contributions to any United Nations commission, organization, or affiliated agency that is chaired or presided over by a country that has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, concerning rollcall vote 108-364, On Agreeing to the Amendment of Representative Ron Paul of Texas to H.R. 1950, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 2003: Although I was correctly recorded as voting against the passage of this amendment, which eventually failed by an overwhelming vote of 74 to 350, I would like the Congressional Record to reflect that my ``no'' vote was in error, and I would have liked to have voted ``aye'' on this provision.

Specifically, Representative Paul's amendment would have prohibited funds authorized under H.R. 1950 to be used to pay any U.S. contribution to the United Nations or any affiliated agency of the United Nations. Like many, I firmly believe evidence of the need for a dramatic reevaluation of current U.N. policy is glaring. Over the years, the United States has been a host nation to the United Nations, headquartered in New York City, and has contributed greatly to the funding for the organization, including the enormous cost to the American taxpayer of deploying our military on the numerous U.N. peacekeeping missions worldwide, amounting to roughly one-quarter of the peacekeeping expenses of the 191-member body. However, recent events surrounding the ousting of Saddam Hussein's tyrannical regime in Iraq, and the inability of the United Nations to enforce its own Security Council resolutions, has renewed questions of the legitimacy of this body, as well as the necessity and level of U.S. participation in its funding and daily activities.

I would also like to note that I have cosponsored a number of pieces of legislation in the House of Representatives, which, I believe, address these questions more thoroughly. While I do not object to the U.N.'s founding objectives of peace through positive discussions and diplomacy, the organization has clearly failed in this charter mission. As it currently exists, the United Nations merely provides a weighted platform to nondemocratic and anti-American nations. Perhaps a more constructive and strategically important avenue would be to pursue an entirely new federation of nations, limiting voting membership to democratic countries that share our values and goals.

For these reasons, I have cosponsored H.R. 1146, introduced by Representative Ron Paul, which calls on the United States to withdraw from the United Nations entirely. I have also cosponsored two related bills, which would impact our involvement in the United Nations in lesser ways. H.R. 800 would provide for the withholding of United States contributions to any U.N. commission, organization, or affiliated agency that is chaired or presided over by a country that has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. H. Con. Res. 116 takes this bill a step further, issuing a sense of Congress that the United States should withhold all payments to the United Nations until its bylaws are amended to prevent countries whose leaders are not democratically elected from holding a position of authority within the United Nations.

Mr. Chairman, concerning Rollcall Vote 108-364, On Agreeing to the Amendment of Representative Ron Paul of Texas to H.R. 1950, the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of 2003: Although I was correctly recorded as voting against the passage of this amendment, which eventually failed by an overwhelming vote of 74 to 350, I would like the Congressional Record to reflect that my ``No'' vote was in error, and I would have liked to have voted ``Aye'' on this provision.

Specifically, Representative Paul's amendment would have prohibited funds authorized under H.R. 1950 to be used to pay any U.S. contribution to the United Nations or any affiliated agency of the United Nations. Like many, I firmly believe evidence of the need for a dramatic reevaluation of current U.N. policy is glaring. Over the years, the United States has been a host nation to the U.N., headquartered in New York City, and has contributed greatly to the funding for the organization, including the enormous cost to the American taxpayer of deploying our military on the numerous U.N. peacekeeping missions worldwide, amounting to roughly one-quarter of the peacekeeping expenses of the 191-member body. However, recent events surrounding the ousting of Saddam Hussein's tyrannical regime in Iraq, and the inability of the U.N. to enforce its own Security Council resolutions, has renewed questions of the legitimacy of this body, as well as the necessity and level of U.S. participation in its funding and daily activities.

I would also like to note that I have cosponsored a number of pieces of legislation in the House of Representatives, which, I believe, address these questions more thoroughly. While I do not object to the U.N.'s founding objectives of peace through positive discussions and diplomacy, the organization has clearly failed in this charter mission. As it currently exists, the United Nations merely provides a weighted platform to non-democratic and anti-American nations. Perhaps a more constructive and strategically important avenue would be to pursue an entirely new federation of nations, limiting voting membership to democratic countries that share our values and goals.

For these reasons, I have cosponsored H.R. 1146, introduced by Representative Ron Paul (R-TX), which calls on the U.S. to withdraw from the United Nations entirely. I have also cosponsored two related bills, which would impact our involvement in the U.N. in lesser ways. H.R. 800 would provide for the withholding of United States contributions to any U.N. commission, organization, or affiliated agency that is chaired or presided over by a country that has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. H. Con. Res. 116 takes this bill a step further, issuing a sense of Congress that the United States should withhold all payments to the U.N. until its bylaws are amended to prevent countries whose leaders are not democratically elected from holding a position of authority within the U.N.

Mr. Speaker, as the President of the United States has indicated, the war against terror is far from over. The battle may be won but it is far from over. Therefore, I think it is important that the United Nations step up to the plate and reflect reality and serve in the positive role that it can. That is why I think H.R. 800 is a needed step toward reform at the United Nations. It reduces U.S. funding for United Nations commissions like the Commission on Human Rights which have been hijacked by terrorist nations. The latest outrage is Cuba. The dictatorship is in the midst of a brutal crackdown, having executed three men for trying to escape Cuba and imprisoned dozens of others for daring to speak out. The U.N. said nothing about the crackdown but elected Cuba to another term on the human rights panel. The current chair of that panel is Libya, that beacon of human rights. At the beginning of the year, Iraq was going to head the Conference on Disarmament. Iraq did not take over but remained on the commission. Iran chairs that conference. North Korea and Cuba also sit on the Disarmament Committee. This is all symptomatic of a culture of carelessness at the U.N. It would not be as grave if not for the fact that the United States pays 22 percent of the United Nations' operating budget. Diplomacy and dialogue are important, but sometimes dollars are the only thing that makes sense.