| Congress Takes Up President’s FY09 Emergency Spending Request; Senate Subcommittee Cuts UN Peacekeeping Funds May 13, 2009 During a markup held yesterday on its portion of the President’s $83.4 billion FY09 supplemental spending request, the Senate’s State Department-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee cut the administration’s number for UN peacekeeping dues by $116 million. The House Appropriations Committee provided the President’s full $837 million request for UN peacekeeping during its own markup late last week. Peacekeeping Funds to Pay Arrears, Cost of Expanded Missions The Obama Administration’s supplemental request for UN peacekeeping, submitted in early April, is intended to pay off recently-accumulated peacekeeping arrears, as well as the US share of an expanded mission in Congo, a new UN operation in Chad and the Central African Republic, and a potential UN logistical support package for the African Union (AU) mission in Somalia. In an appearance before the House State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee late last month, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton noted that a portion of the requested UN peacekeeping funds would be used “to cover assessments in which we are already in arrears.” The Administration, she said, believes “it is time for the United States to lead by example when it comes to shared responsibility, and that means we need to take care of our obligations to meet commitments we have already made to fund international burdens.” While pointing out that the United Nations “needs reform and greater accountability,” Clinton told the Subcommittee that “we also must acknowledge the importance of UN peacekeeping missions in troubled regions of the world that save lives and expense for our nation.” The deployment of UN peacekeepers cost “75 percent less than if we had to send US troops in their place,” Clinton said. House Committee Withholds Funding Transfer Authority In the report (111-105) accompanying its version of the supplemental bill (H.R. 2346), the House Appropriations Committee explains that it did not provide transfer authority requested by the Administration for a logistics package for the AU mission in Somalia because it does not support transfers from the mandatory treaty-based account for UN missions to voluntary accounts that fund AU operations. Calls for UNRWA Accountability Report The House report acknowledges “abiding concerns” about whether the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) “is taking all possible steps to prevent its funds from supporting terrorists and other extremists, particularly in the West Bank and Gaza, and is operating in an open and transparent manner.” The report recognizes both the State Department and UNRWA for taking steps to improve staff vetting and financial accountability and transparency. To promote continued progress in this area, the bill, which provides up to $119 million for UNRWA activities in the West Bank and Gaza, requires the State Department to submit an UNRWA “accountability report” to Congress. The report is to assess progress by the UN agency in a number of specific areas, including the inspection of facilities and the reporting of any misuse; response to staff violations of internal policies, such as employee impartiality; efforts to improve the “transparency” of educational materials; and the promotion of tolerance, non-violent conflict resolution, and human rights at UNRWA schools and summer camps. The full Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to markup its version of the supplemental bill on May 15th, followed by House and Senate floor consideration and then a reconciliation conference between the two chambers. A final bill is expected to be sent to the White House by the end of next week.
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