United Nations Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act

H.R.2829
Introduced: 
August 30, 2011
112
First
December 8, 2011
Placed on House calendar

141 cosponsors

Would make sweeping cuts to U.S. contributions to the UN, potentially by as much as 50%. Funding for UNRWA and other bodies focused on Palestinians would be specifically targeted, as well as bodies that vote for Palestinian membership at the UN or are critical of Israel. Secy. of State Hillary Clinton wrote a letter to Ros-Lehtinen warning that she would urge President Obama to veto the bill because it would undercut U.S. foreign policy.

Introducing the bill in August and including a provision which would suspend funding to any UN body that upgraded the status of the Palestinian mission, Ros-Lehtinen said one of the major goals of the bill to ‘stop the dangerous scheme [of the Palestinian UN statehood push] in its tracks.’ Ros-Lehtinen has introduced this bill in-whole or in-part several times since 2009, both as a stand-alone bill and as amendments to other bills. Many of the sections below, including ‘Equality at the United Nations’ and the measure to reduce U.S. funding for UNRWA, have been central parts of UN reform bills introduced by other Republicans several times since at least 2005. Both the Zionist Organization of America and the Republican Jewish Coalition sent alerts to their members asking them to urge their members of Congress to support the bill. Notably, AIPAC did not publicly support the bill, and House leaders reportedly refused to schedule the bill for a vote because it lacked sufficient support from the pro-Israel community.

Palestinian membership:

Would require the secy. of state to withhold funding to any UN body that that recognizes a Palestinian state or upgrades the status of the Palestinian observer mission, the PLO, the PA, or any other Palestinian organization prior to a final peace agreement with Israel. Would state the policy of the U.S. to be to oppose any such recognition and would require the president use the voice, vote, and influence of the U.S. to advance the policy.

UNRWA:

Would withhold U.S. contributions to the regular budget of UNRWA until the secy. of state certifies that no UNRWA ‘official, employee, consultant, contractor, subcontractor, representative, or affiliate’ is a member of a foreign terrorist organization; has distributed or incited ‘anti-American, anti-Israel, or anti-Semitic rhetoric or propaganda’; or has used any UNRWA resources to distribute political materials regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Further the Secretary of State would have had to certify that: no UNRWA facility or resource is being used by a foreign terrorist organization; UNRWA is subject to financial audits by an internationally recognized independent auditing firm and has implemented an effective system of vetting and oversight to prevent the use of any UNRWA resources by any foreign terrorist organization; no UNRWA-funded school uses textbooks or other educational materials that propagate ‘anti-American, anti-Israel, or anti-Semitic rhetoric, propaganda or incitement’; that no recipient of UNRWA funds or loans is a member of a foreign terrorist organization; and that UNRWA holds no accounts or has no affiliation with a financial institution the U.S. ‘deems or believes to be complicit’ with money laundering and financing of terrorism.

The certification would be effective for 180 days unless the secy. of state ‘receives information rendering that certification factually inaccurate.’ Theoretically U.S. funding for UNRWA would thus be subject to anyone who wishes to provide the secy. of state with such information.

Would have limited U.S. funding for UNRWA to an amount: (1) no greater than the highest annual contribution made by a member country of the League of Arab States; (2) that, as a proportion of the total UNRWA budget, exceeds the proportion of the total budget for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) paid by the United States; or (3) that exceeds 22 percent of the total budget of UNRWA.

The bill also would express the

Sponsor/Cosponsors:

Sandy Adams(R-FL)Steve Austria(R-OH)Michele Marie Bachmann(R-MN)Roscoe Bartlett(R-MD)Joe Barton(R-TX)Gus Bilirakis(R-FL)Diane Black(R-TN)Marsha Blackburn(R-TN)Paul Jr. Broun(R-GA)Vernon Buchanan(R-FL)Ann Marie Buerkle(R-NY)Michael Burgess(R-TX)Dan Burton(R-IN)Ken Calvert(R-CA)Dave Camp(R-MI)Francisco Canseco(R-TX)Steve Chabot(R-OH)Jason Chaffetz(R-UT)Howard Coble(R-NC)Mike Coffman(R-CO)Mike Conaway(R-TX)Chip Cravaack(R-MN)Rick Crawford(R-AR)John Culberson(R-TX)Charlie Dent(R-PA)Mario Diaz-Balart(R-FL)Robert Dold(R-IL)Jeff Duncan(R-SC)Renee Ellmers(R-NC)Blake Farenthold(R-TX)Steven Fincher(R-TN)Michael Fitzpatrick(R-PA)Jeff Flake(R-AZ)John C. Fleming(R-LA)Bill Flores(R-TX)Randy Forbes(R-VA)Virginia Foxx(R-NC)Trent Franks(R-AZ)Elton Gallegly(R-CA)Cory Gardner(R-CO)Scott Garrett(R-NJ)Jim Gerlach(R-PA)Louis Jr. Gohmert(R-TX)Bob Goodlatte(R-VA)Paul Gosar(R-AZ)Sam Graves(R -MO)Tim Griffin(R-AR)Michael Grimm(R-NY)Ralph Hall(R-TX)Vicky Hartzler(R-MO)Nan Hayworth(R-NY)Tim Huelskamp(R-KS)Bill Huizenga(R-MI)Randy Hultgren(R-IL)Duncan Hunter(D-CA)Robert Hurt(R-VA)Lynn Jenkins(R-KS)Bill Johnson(R-OH)Sam Johnson(R-TX)Timothy Johnson(R-IL)Mike Kelly(R-PA)Pete King(R-)Steven King(R-IA)Jack Kingston(R-GA)Adam Kinzinger(R-IL)John Kline(R-MN)Raul Labrador(R-ID)Douglas Lamborn(R-CO)Leonard Lance(R-NJ)Jeffrey Landry(R-LA)James Lankford(R-OK)Tom Latham(R-IA)Robert Latta(R-OH)Billy Long(R-MO)Blaine Luetkemeyer(R-MO)Cynthia Lummis(R-WY)Dan Lungren(R-CA)Connie Mack(R-FL)Don Manzullo(R-IL)Kenny Ewell Marchant(R-TX)Tom Marino(R-PA)Michael McCaul(R-TX)Tom McClintock(R-CA)Thaddeus McCotter(R-MI)Patrick McHenry(R-NC)David McKinley(R-WV)Cathy McMorris Rodgers(R-WA)Marty Meehan(D-MA)Jeff Miller(R-FL)Candice Miller(R-MI)Gary Miller(R-CA)Sue Myrick(R-NC)Richard Nugent(R-FL)Alan Nunnelee(R-MS)Pete Olson(R-TX)Steven Palazzo(R-MS)Mike Pence(R-IN)Ted Poe(R-TX)Mike Pompeo(R-KS)Bill Posey(R-FL)David Price(D-NC)James Renacci(R-OH)Reid Ribble(R-WI)Scott Rigell(R-VA)David Rivera(R-FL)David "Phil" Roe(R-TN)Mike D Rogers(R-AL)Dana Rohrabacher(R-CA)Tom Rooney(R-FL)Ileana Ros-Lehtinen(R-FL)Peter Roskam(R-IL)Dennis Ross(R-FL)Ed Royce(R-CA)Jon Runyan(R-NJ)Paul Ryan(R-WI)Stephen Joseph Scalise(R-LA)Jean Schmidt(R-OH)David Schweikert(R-AZ)Austin Scott(R-SC)John Shimkus(R-IL)Mike Simpson(R-ID)Adrian Smith(R-NE)Chris Smith(R-NJ)Lamar Smith(R-TX)Steve Southerland(R-FL)Glenn Thompson(R-PA)Mac Thornberry(R-TX)Patrick Tiberi(R-OH)Scott Tipton(R-CO)Michael Turner(R-OH)Robert L. Turner(R-NY)Tim Walberg(R-MI)Greg Walden(R -OR)Joe Walsh(R-IL)Allen West(R-FL)Lynn Westmoreland(R-GA)Joe Wilson(R-SC)Frank Wolf(R-VA)Steve Womack(R-AR)Rob Woodall(R-GA)Don Young(R-AK)

More info

For more information, Click Here to visit this measure’s page at congress.gov.