Originally published on the CGS blog on September 23, 2011.
On Wednesday the Senate Appropriations Committee approved the FY12 State and Foreign Operations appropriations bill. The vote brought funding for the U.N.’s regular budget and funding for 15 peacekeeping missions very close to what President Obama originally requested from Congress. Citizens for Global Solutions would like to thank the Senate for understanding the importance of funding international organizations like the U.N., unlike their friends in the House who aimed to slash this vital aid that affects our ability to accomplish our foreign policy goals and national security interests.
In July, when the House took up funding for international organizations and peacekeeping, it dramatically cut these budgets by 20%. This figure may not seem outrageous, but consider this: the entire foreign aid budget makes up less than 1% of the overall budget. As many advocates for the U.N. and international funding have pointed out before, the International Affairs Budget is not an efficient place to make a dramatic effect on the deficit. This move is unwise because it does not yield any meaningful economic savings, and also has substantial costs to United States leadership, prestige, and influence.
Think about it: Would any organization respect and give leadership roles to a board member who rarely paid their dues on time?
Continuing to monitor nuclear programs in Iran and North Korea, stopping tyrants like Qadaffi from slaughtering civilians, and immunizing innocent children from infectious diseases will all be negatively affected if the United States does not pay our fair share of what we owe and have already committed promised to the U.N. Fully funding peacekeeping missions helps promote the United States’ vital national security interests. Peacekeepers help maintain stability, and allow formerly war-torn nations to heal and rebuild civil society institutions. It is in our interest to lift up states in danger of failing, so that we can prevent threats coming to our own shores in the future.
The Senate has thankfully improved on those outrageously low numbers suggested by the House earlier this summer. They decided on a budget of $1.58 billion for Contributions to International Organizations (CIO), which is up $240 million from the House total, and $1.91 billion for Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA) which is up $220 million from the House.
Unfortunately, this is still not enough to pay our U.N. Peacekeeping dues in full. This is because the President’s request of $1.92 billion back in February assumed the United States would have credits available from closed peacekeeping missions (totaling roughly $225 million), but those credits were ultimately used last year to cover steep cuts in funding for U.N. peacekeeping made as a result of the FY11 Continuing Resolution. In order to pay our CIPA dues on time and in full this year, Congress needs to fund the CIPA account at $2.145 billion dollars, a $225 million dollar increase from the Senate total.
Understanding the CIO and CIPA can shed light on why it is so crucial that the U.S. allocate enough funding for them. The CIO is the part of the budget responsible for paying our dues to the U.N., NATO, and other international organizations. The CIPA account is the part of the budget that funds all U.N. peacekeeping missions around the globe. Both of these accounts are crucial in keeping the United States in a leadership role on the international stage and in protecting people worldwide from tyrannical dictators. The U.S. needs to be taken seriously by the international community and it simply will not be if it does not honor its previous commitments and pay its promised dues.
The Senate Appropriations Committee’s vote yesterday was an important step in the goal of raising the State and Foreign Operations Budget to a level that will allow the U.S. to remain a respectable international player. However, it is still just a preliminary action. Other steps will need to be taken in the future weeks by legislators, interest groups, and citizens to meet the ultimate goal of honoring our international commitments in full.
