Deadbeat Nation

The U.N. General Assembly today begins its annual meeting with the United States still owing $582 million in dues, thanks to the House of Representatives linking the payment to an entirely unrelated issue. The bill should be paid--now.

If the House doesn’t get moving, President Bush will address the General Assembly in two weeks as the leader of a deadbeat nation. Given the rancor any number of countries feel about the Bush administration’s abandonment of treaties, the back debt will further estrange Washington from countries that should be allies.

After years of wrangling, the United States promised two years ago that it would pony up nearly $1 billion in back assessments. It made an initial payment of $100 million.

The Senate voted unanimously for the second of three installments, this one for $582 million. But the House leadership decided to hold up payment unless the Bush administration ensures that Americans do not become subject to the International Criminal Court that is being created to prosecute war crimes.

There are legitimate concerns about the court, but that issue has nothing to do with the U.N. dues. Compounding its errors, the House voted in May to withhold the third payment, $244 million, due next year, unless the United States regains its seat on the U.N. Human Rights Commission.

The opening of the General Assembly session should be a time for optimism that the leaders who file through the building on New York’s East River will bear new plans to settle old quarrels. It should not be a reminder that the United States still has failed to pay what it owes even after getting U.N. concessions to lower the dues and reform the bureaucracy.