Originally published on the CGS blog on May 22, 2007.
Senator Joseph Biden , who when he isn’t busy running for president, also is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that he expects his committee to adopt a resolution this week calling for full funding of the United Nations and payment of U.S. arrears.
While chairs of committees not only hold the gavel, but carry great power, this may not be a slam dunk (Where have I heard that phrase before?).
Biden’s remarks were made to reporters at the U.N. headquarters. He led a bipartisan delegation to talk about Darfur with Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. It was Ban Ki-Moon who raised the problem of U.S. arrears. Biden then said this:
“The Senate Foreign Relations Committee is going to be taking up a resolution providing for full funding of the United Nations to deal with what our arrearages are,” Biden told reporters afterward. “I expect to pass that out of the committee this week, and hopefully in the intervening period of the budget process, we’ll be able to deal with that issue.”
To be clear, Biden’s committee is not going to actually pay U.S. arrears to the U.N., which will exceed $1 billion dollars this year if Congress does not act. What SFRC will do is consider Biden’s legislation that will addresses the “peacekeeping cap,” — the difference between what? Congress has authorized the U.S. to pay for U.N. peacekeeping missions (25 percent) vs. what the U.S. has agreed to pay the U.N. (about 27 percent).
Sen. Bob Corker , a Tennessee Republican, who was part of the delegation, said he wants to see the legislation before deciding whether to support it.
“I haven’t seen his legislation yet. I don’t want to be standing here and necessarily associate myself with that effort but we will see very soon,” Corker said.
I applaud Biden for his boldness on addressing this piece of old business, as the U.N. is an important partner for our nation’s foreign policy goals. However, I wonder if the “Gentleman from Delaware” would have been better off floating his idea by his traveling companions before telling reporters he was going to get the job done. Or, maybe he did and Sen. Corker just is not convinced?
