Chairman Risch Opening Statement at Hearing on Reforming the UN

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senator Jim Risch (R-Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today gave the following opening remarks at a full committee hearing titled "Reforming the UN: Assessing U.S. Efforts and Priorities." Witnesses included The Honorable Mike Waltz, U.S. ambasaador to the United Nations, and The Honorable Jeff Bartos, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for management and reform.

Chairman Risch gave the following remarks:

"Ambassador Waltz, Ambassador Bartos, thank you for being here today. It's almost seven months to the day that you were both confirmed by the Senate.

"You have accomplished remarkable and unprecedented reforms across the UN, and I know you plan to do even more this coming year. You have a target rich environment in front of you.

"As you know, the United States has historically been the most generous donor to the United Nations - that is an understatement.

"We have consistently paid 25%, at minimum, of the UN peacekeeping budget and 22% of the UN regular budget. This doesn't even include our voluntary contributions, which have easily reached into the billions over the last few decades.

"That is a staggering sum. Yet, this massive, very generous contribution has given the American people very little return on their investment.

"The UN has become an inefficient and bloated bureaucracy that has departed from its original mandate of maintaining international peace and security to instead focusing on politicized mandates and woke ideology. I'd like to say that was breaking news, but it is not; it has been happening for some time.

"Worse, many UN agencies have deep-rooted anti-American and anti-Israeli biases and even provide preferential treatment to our adversaries.

"This is not what the American people signed up for and it's certainly not what they want to pay for.

"I am glad that President Trump stood up for the American people and withdrew the United States from organizations that do not serve our interests, like UNESCO and the ill-fated UN Human Rights Council.

"In both of your hearings last year, I told you that I believed you had two of the hardest jobs in trying to reform the UN. I'm pleased to see that you've taken that challenge in hand and are demanding radical transparency, real accountability, and enacting actual reforms that will hopefully transform a broken body into one that actually works for the American people.

"In today's hearing, I hope the committee can discuss the unprecedented reforms you have achieved over the last seven months and how you will capitalize on this momentum to further align the UN with the Administration's priorities.

"With that, Senator Shaheen."

These remarks have been lightly edited for clarity. Witness testimony is available on foreign.senate.gov.

###

• Print
• Email
• Share
• Tweet