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2005 Ron Paul Chapter 66
Not linked on Ron Paul’s Congressional website.
Congressional Record [.PDF]
Amendment No. 11 Offered By Mr. Paul
16 June 2005
2005 Ron Paul 66:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate
the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 11 offered by Mr. PAUL:
Page 108, after line 7, insert the following:
TITLE VIII — ADDITIONAL GENERAL
PROVISIONS
SEC. 801. None of the funds made available
in this Act may be used to pay any United
States contribution to the United Nations or
any affiliated agency of the United Nations.
The CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to the
order of the House of June 14, the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. PAUL) and a
Member opposed each will control 5
minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. PAUL).
(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission
to revise and extend his remarks.)
2005 Ron Paul 66:2
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
2005 Ron Paul 66:3
Mr. Chairman, the amendment I have is very simple, and it tells us exactly
what it does, so I am just going to read
it. It says, “None of the funds made
available in this Act may be used to
pay any United States contribution to
the United Nations or any affiliated
agency of the United Nations.”
2005 Ron Paul 66:4
So, very simply, a vote for my amendment would be a vote to defund
the United Nations, and it would be a
policy statement, obviously. We have
had some debate already on the United
Nations, and we will be having another
debate either later today or tomorrow
dealing with reform of the United Nations.
Yesterday we had a vote dealing
with removing half of the funding from
the United Nations. This would be in
the same direction, but it would remove
all of the funding.
2005 Ron Paul 66:5
The United Nations has been under serious attack, and most Americans
know there is a big problem with the
United Nations. There is corruption involved
with the oil-for-food scandal, as
well as the abuse of human rights.
There are a lot of people who believe
that we can reform the United Nations
and make it much more responsive to
our principles. I do not happen to share
that belief.
2005 Ron Paul 66:6
I have been a longtime opponent of the United Nations not so much because
of the goals they seek, but because
of their failure to reach these
goals, as well as the attack on our national
sovereignty. For me, it is a sovereignty
issue, and that is the reason
that I believe that it does not serve our
interests to be in the United Nations,
and we should make a statement for
the many Americans who share that
particular view.
2005 Ron Paul 66:7
But I would like to take a little bit of this time right now to relate my position
on the United Nations with the
bill that is coming up later today or tomorrow,
and that is the reform bill.
The reform bill is very controversial.
We already have former Republican
and Democrat ambassadors, Secretaries
of State who are in opposition to
this, and our own President has expressed
opposition to this. It is not for
the same reasons that I am opposed to
that reform bill, but they are opposed
to it because there is a threat of cutting
some funding.
2005 Ron Paul 66:8
But in their attack on the reform bill, they do say they support the policy
changes. That is what I would like
to emphasize here. Most people see the
reform bill as a mere threat to the
United Nations to shape up, or we are
going to cut half of their funds. Yesterday
we had a much more straightforward
vote, because if you, also, believe
in true reform, all those supporters
of the reform bill should have
supported the Hayworth amendment
and just flat out cut half of the funding.
But the reform bill says that, well,
if you do certain things, we are going
to give you your money. Of course,
those who really like the U.N. find that
offensive and think that is too intrusive
on the functioning of the United
Nations.
2005 Ron Paul 66:9
But I, quite frankly, do not believe that if the U.N. reform bill gets anyplace,
that there is any way, since the
President is opposed to it and so many
individuals are opposed to it, that any
funds will ever be cut. But I do believe
a bill could get passed, and, that bill,
also changes policy, which I think that
too many of my conservative colleagues
on this side of the aisle have
failed to look at, and that is what I am
concerned about, the policy changes.
2005 Ron Paul 66:10
So instead of tightening up the reins and the financial control of the United
Nations and getting them to act more
efficiently and effectively, what they
are doing, if they do not have the ability
to really strike the 50 percent, the
bill institutionalizes new policy
changes.
2005 Ron Paul 66:11
I want to just mention the policies that I believe that are risky, especially
if you are interested in protecting our
national sovereignty.
2005 Ron Paul 66:12
The first thing it would do is it would change the definition of terrorism as
related to United Nations, and it would
change the ability and the responsibility
of the United Nations to become
involved. Today it is currently understood
that if there is an invasion of one
country by another, the United Nations
is called up, and they assume responsibility,
and then they can put in troops
to do whatever they think is necessary.
But if this new policy is adopted, it
will literally institutionalize the policy
that was used by our own government
to go into Iraq, and that is preemptive
war, preemptive strikes, to go
in and either support an insurgency, or
in order to get rid of a regime, or vice
versa. This is a significant change and
an expansion of U.N. authority. I, quite
frankly, think that this is a move in
the wrong direction.
2005 Ron Paul 66:13
Also, the Peacebuilding Commission, I think, is very risky, and also something
that we should look at.
2005 Ron Paul 66:14
So not only do I urge my colleagues to vote for my resolution to defund the
United Nations, I urge my colleagues
to look very cautiously at the U.N. reform
bill, because there is a lot more in
there than one might think. The one
thing we do not need is John Bolton and Paul
Wolfowitz, the authors of our policy for regime
change in Iraq, in charge of the same policy
in the U.N.
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