State Dept. to Lobby Congress for U.N. Budget
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WASHINGTON — The State Department will try to persuade Congress to reverse cuts made in the U.S. share of the United Nations’ budget that threaten to halve the American contribution to the world organization and leave it unable to pay its bills by the end of the year.
Deputy Secretary of State John C. Whitehead said in a telephone interview Sunday that the department will undertake an intensive lobbying campaign to restore at least some of the cuts that otherwise will take effect Oct. 1. He conceded that it is too late to expect much to be done this year.
One factor in the Administration’s change of course is a desire to assure a good reception for President Reagan when he addresses the General Assembly on Sept. 22 at the opening of its annual general debate.
In recent years, the United States has paid 25% of the world organization’s basic budget, but an amendment by Sen. Nancy Landon Kassebaum (R-Kan.) last year set a limit of 20% on the U.S. contribution unless the United States and other major dues payers were given weighted votes in the General Assembly to let them control spending. That would require a change in the U.N. Charter.
The Kassebaum cut reduced Washington’s payments from $210 million to $168 million for the current year, based on a budget of $841 million. But other congressional actions, such as the Gramm-Rudman mandate, could drop the U.S. contribution almost to $100 million. Corresponding cuts would affect related U.N. agencies. The U.N. complex of organizations spend $3 billion beyond the U.N.’s “basic” $841 million annual budget.
With none of the 1986 U.S. contribution having yet been paid, the shortfall is expected to leave the United Nations unable to meet its payroll by the end of the year. And although the organization implemented some economy measures in anticipation, the slash was so great that U.N. employees may face payless paydays by year’s end.
A group of 18 experts from key member states have been meeting for the past year to try to resolve the U.N. financial crisis.
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