2004 Ron Paul 47:1
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I offer amendment No. 9.
The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate
the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 9 offered by Mr. PAUL:
At the end of the bill (before the short
title), insert the following:
TITLE VIII — ADDITIONAL GENERAL
PROVISIONS
SEC. 801. None of the funds made available
in this Act may be used to pay expenses for
any United States contribution to the
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and
Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
The CHAIRMAN. Points of order are
reserved. Pursuant to the order of the
House of today, 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.)
2004 Ron Paul 47:2
Mr. PAUL. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
2004 Ron Paul 47:3
This amendment denies funds to UNESCO, and it is an amendment that
is identical to what I brought up last
year and got a recorded vote on and
had a debate on last year.
2004 Ron Paul 47:4
Last year, I brought it up because we were just getting back into UNESCO.
President Ronald Reagan, in 1984, had
the wisdom of getting us out of
UNESCO because of its corrupt nature,
not only because it had a weird, false
ideology, contrary to what most Americans
believed, but it was also corrupt.
He had the wisdom to get us out of it,
yet last year we were put back in
UNESCO, and I was hoping that we
would not fund it.
2004 Ron Paul 47:5
Last year, the Congress approved $60 million for this purpose, which was 25
percent of UNESCOs budget. Does that
mean we have 25 percent of the vote in
UNESCO? Do the American people get
represented by 25 percent? How much
do we get out of it? What is the American
taxpayer going to get? The American
taxpayer gets a bill, that is all.
They do not get any benefits from it.
2004 Ron Paul 47:6
And there is one part of UNESCO that is particularly irritating to me,
and it is called the Cultural Diversity
Convention. This is an organization
that actually is very destructive and
will play havoc with our educational
system. It also attempts to control our
education through the International
Baccalaureate Program, and that, too,
introduces programs and offers them to
our schools. It is not forced, but there
are already quite a few schools that
have accepted these programs.
2004 Ron Paul 47:7
Now, let me just give my colleagues an idea of the type of philosophy they
are promoting, but what we as the Congress
promote with what the American
taxpayers are paying for. Here it is:
2004 Ron Paul 47:8
The international education offers people a state of mind, international
mindedness. We are living on a planet
that is becoming exhausted. And now
listen to this, this is what the U.N.
UNESCO people are saying about education
in the various countries, including
ours. Most national educational
systems at the moment encourage students
to seek the truth, memorize it
and reproduce it accurately. Now, one
would think that is not too bad of an
idea. The real world is not this simple,
so says UNESCO. International
education has to reconcile this diversity
with the unity of the human condition.
2004 Ron Paul 47:9
I mean, if those are not threatening terms about what they want to do, and
yet here we are funding this program
and the American taxpayers are forced
to pay for it. Now, there are a few of us
left in the Congress, I see a couple on
the floor tonight, that might even object
to the Federal Government telling
our States what to do with education,
and of course there is no constitutional
authority for that. We have the Leave
No Child Behind, but it looks like everyone
is going to be left behind before
we know it.
2004 Ron Paul 47:10
But here it is not the Federal Government taking over our Federal education
system; this is the UNESCO,
United Nations, taking over our educational
system. It does have an influence.
Sure, it is minimal now, but it
will grow if we allow this to continue.
2004 Ron Paul 47:11
So I ask my colleagues to please vote for my amendment, and I sure hope
they allow a vote on this amendment.
It was permitted last year, so it surely
would be permitted this year.