U.S. Accountability at the United Nations: Challenges and Opportunities for Reform

Ambassador Confirmation HearingsHouse Foreign Affairs Oversight and Intelligence Subcommittee · April 29, 2026 · 119th Congress

Transcript

Highlights

▶ 0:05:02All right, is everyone ready? I'm ready if you are.

▶ 0:05:07The Subcommittee on Oversight and Intelligence will come to order. The purpose of this hearing is to examine recent developments within the United Nations system, review the Trump administration's efforts to bring accountability and reform to the UN, and consider potential reforms to more effectively advance US interests. I now recognize Chairman Mass for his opening Very kind of you, Chairman Mills. Thank you for having me today.

▶ 0:05:35Technically, you outrank me as a staff sergeant, so you should go first. Fair enough. I'll take it, my friend. Um, Mr. Mills, I do want to formally thank you for holding today's hearing on the need for accountability and reform within the United Nations. Uh, anybody that doesn't see it is blind. I'm proud to see Ambassador Waltz there working hard to change the climate, change what's going on there. He's a friend to both of us, and proud to see his work that's going on there.

▶ 0:06:01I would say I would believe it would be difficult for any of the founding members who signed the initial charter, the UN Charter in 1945, that they would have foreseen utter uselessness and corruption that exists there.

▶ 0:06:19I don't believe that that's what they envisioned for the Uh, I think there's hardly a week that goes by that we don't read some headline about the United Nations that reads like it's something out of the Babylon Bee or Hollywood, like Sacha Baron Cohen or something like that. And what was this week's headline?

▶ 0:06:41It was that the United Nations selected Iran to serve on the board of nuclear non-prolifer- I can't even say it with a straight face. They selected Iran to serve on the board of nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Right? I mean, that's Moscow, you can reply to this, too. I mean, I'll take the lead on that. Yeah, You guys seen the movie, uh, What's the movie I'm thinking of? With the What's Borat? With Sacha Baron Cohen. It's called Borat. No, no, no, the movie.

▶ 0:07:10The, uh, The Dictator. Who's The Dictator? Right? You guys seen The Dictator, right? We are almost complete with enriching weapons-grade uranium for peaceful purp- Oh, boy, peaceful purposes, right? I mean, that's what this reads like. You all seen The Dictator. Right? I see a lot of lot of thumbs up back there. That's You're going to do Tropic Thunder today? Yeah. By the way, this is usually Moscow which plays, so him doing the Hollywood scene is actually really enlightening.

▶ 0:07:37Do you want Tom Cruise in, uh, Tropic Thunder, or you thinking Who you thinking? You want Scorched Earth? Got it. I'm not going to do Tropic Thunder today. Less Grossman. Less Grossman. Yes, less Grossman. Yeah. I've digressed plenty at this point. But seriously, uh, putting them in charge of non-proliferation treaty, it is literally like watching the movie, uh, The Dictator. It's beyond crazy.

▶ 0:08:05Uh, this is the same regime that has lied about its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, uh, hid them from United Nations inspectors for decades, and uh, are given direct influence over the world's foremost nuclear treaty. And you got to think that when it comes to inspections and also the IAEA and others, uh, where do they use it for intelligence gathering? You know, obviously, uh, anything nuclear at the highest levels of classification.

▶ 0:08:34And uh, them being given access and tours, just beyond common sense. I you know, like, who thought of that? Who Who thought of doing that? It's beyond me. Um, it's really just the tip of the iceberg. United Nations has given Iran a seat at the table in the committee responsible for shaping UN priorities on women's rights. Who thought of that? Uh, or uh, the human rights and counterterrorism, right?

▶ 0:09:04This the same regime whose idea on women's rights is enforcing physical assault or detention, uh, for women who are caught without a How does that happen? That That is a institution. And I'm We're not just talking about m- years ago. The first one I mentioned was this week. Uh, this is the same regime.

▶ 0:09:27Their idea [snorts] on human rights is 10, 20, 30,000 of its own citizens, imprisoning them. None of that is hyperbole. Recent history. Same regime whose idea of They're Think about this. Iran is on the committee for counterterrorism?

▶ 0:09:50And they're the the chief operator for Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, giving them targets, giving them reward for better targeting anybody that they can, but that's the UN's idea of a good idea? Put them on the council for that? You You can't make this up.

▶ 0:10:13Uh you might be able to look overlook some of the things that the UN could actually do uh what it was chartered to do and and failed uh you know, ending wars and holding human rights abusers accountable. Maybe you could overlook some of the failures, but they continue to fail fantastically at ending wars and things like that. Peacekeepers, don't get me started on UN Uh I think I'll probably touch on that for a minute. I'll think about Haiti, right?

▶ 0:10:40Take a look at the UN's failed multinational security support mission in Haiti. Every American should be on be beyond pissed off about this. Uh the United States of America, what did we do? We over a billion dollars for 1,000 Kenyans, a billion dollars to the UN for 1,000 Kenyans to go into Haiti and take out the gangs. They did not do that.

▶ 0:11:08Haiti ended up in a worse position after the United States burning through a billion dollars. Abysmally failed. Well, uh so what did we pay? That's uh let's just say $1 million per Kenyan that we paid to the United Nations. I'm pretty sure each million dollars didn't go to each Kenyan that was a part of the force there that failed abysmally. Um and you know, let you look at this today. Uh things have gotten so bad that the Haitian government has taken matters into their own hands.

▶ 0:11:36So now the Haitian is paying for fighters to come in there. Who are they paying? Uh they're actually paying for uh Eric Prince's group to come in there. So they're paying Americans. The Haitian government is now paying Americans, whereas we paid Kenyans and now in the same breath I could say we are now paying fighters from Chad. So Haiti is paying Americans. We as Americans are paying a United Nations to pay Chad to go into Haiti. Uh beyond crazy.

▶ 0:12:03Uh I was on the phone with the American head of this operation earlier earlier this week and um they're doing what the billion-dollar Kenyan program couldn't do for really pennies on the dollar. To me, if we were going to invest in that, I would say invest in the Americans that are doing it for pennies on the dollar, Eric Prince's group, but that's just me. That seems like very much common sense. Uh I'd love to see the United Nations think about doing that. Invest in those that get the mission done and do it for pennies on the dollar. There's a suggestion.

▶ 0:12:34Uh my opinion is we should not be paying for any of this to begin with, but uh it is mind-boggling that we pay the United Nations to bring in people from countries like Chad, Sri Lanka, others to do this job instead of paying again an American company. I'm going to wrap this up pretty quick here.

▶ 0:12:48Um US tax dollars and American contributions to the international they have to align with United States of America national security interests, priorities, and We will not bankrupt ourselves on failed UN missions that never stand a chance to begin with and do not align with our values or benefiting the American people.

▶ 0:13:19Under President Trump's leadership and the efforts of US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz, US foreign policy has a clear principle. Get back to basics. I could not agree more and I'll just close it with this. As I always say about foreign policy, we need to ask number one as Americans, what does the United States of America need from a country or region? And then we'll ask after that, what does the country or region want from the United States of America?

▶ 0:13:46And then we'll ask number three, uh does that country or region uh if if we do uh what it is that they're looking for us from us, do we get what we need? Or do we not? That could be long-term or short-term. Maybe it's cash for a weapon systems, maybe it's a strategic high ground, maybe it's peace, stability, something else, you know, it could be a hundred different things.

▶ 0:14:12But if the people of the United States of America are not getting what they like in Haiti, burn through a billion dollars of our money for absolute for a worse situation or so many other things, then we have no business being a part of it. And for my part, I am 100% fine with the United States of America stepping away from the United Nations in And I conclude my remarks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

▶ 0:14:42I think many on this committee would agree with many of the sentiments, especially when we talk about the hypocrisies of the United Nations, also known as useless nations. Um at this point, the chair recognizes the ranking member from Florida, Representative Moskowitz, for an opening Thank you to the the double chairman.

▶ 0:15:03So I look, there's many things that Chairman Mass said that uh I agree with, but fundamentally I don't agree with pulling out of the UN um categorically. Uh and that's mainly because everywhere that the US wants to withdraw, has withdrawn, any place, whether it's a country with foreign aid, whether it's uh the WHO, whether it's UN, China just comes in uh with more dollars uh and more influence.

▶ 0:15:31And and and and I know the chairman shares my concern uh about China and China's growing uh growing influence. But there's no doubt that the UN has major issues. There's also areas that the UN does well at, right? You know, obviously, you know, taking care of uh hungry children uh around the world uh is something the UN uh uh I think does uh as well as any other organization.

▶ 0:15:56So let me just say, look, this is an important hearing and I appreciate the opportunity to examine both the value and the shortcomings of the UN system at a time when global institutions are under increased scrutiny. I uh appreciate my colleagues who have waved on uh as well as the witnesses who are taking their time out of their day to testify. I do believe that that this hearing uh of this scope would benefit from being held at the full committee level as well uh as it was in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

▶ 0:16:25Uh and given its current role and perspective hearing directly from uh Ambassador Mike Waltz, our colleague, former colleague from uh Florida, who's got a tough job, is doing a doing a good job. Uh and so I would love to obviously an opportunity if at some later juncture uh if he was able to come to a uh full uh committee hearing. Um look, I believe the United Nations and other international organizations remain important

▶ 0:16:47Mr. Moskowitz, can I just add something? Uh absolutely.

▶ 0:16:50uh planning to do, just so you know, likely a codel up to uh UN General Assembly, just so Perfect. That's fantastic. I I I I I prefer Mike's wife, quite frankly, but if we can get Mike, that's fine. So look, I I I think the UN uh the United Nations and other international organizations remain an important platform for advancing US interests and supporting our allies and coordinating humanitarian efforts and addressing global challenges that no country can tackle alone, from conflict mediation to public health to nutrition assistance.

▶ 0:17:19There's no substitute um uh for sustained American leadership in multilateral institutions. Uh but supporting UN does not mean that we just ignore the problems. Instead, our commitment to these institutions requires us to be honest of where they're falling short and push for meaningful reform and long-standing bipartisanship. Uh and and the criticism that uh Chairman Mass gave, I think is completely valid.

▶ 0:17:42The idea that uh China would have a spot on the Human Rights Council when uh you know, they uh are you know, have the Uyghurs in almost basically concentration camps in China. No one sees that on their algorithm on TikTok, right? It's It's uh everything we do, it's everything Israel does, but you're not seeing anything about China uh what they've done to the Uyghurs in your algorithms.

▶ 0:18:04Um uh obviously, the fact that uh Iran, not just with the uh non-proliferation that the chairman brought up, but also uh they were appointed chair in 2023 to the UN Human Rights Council Forum on Science, Technology, and Human Rights. Uh and so yeah, when we see decisions like that, it's not just like one has to wonder. Obviously, there is something systematically rotten uh within the organization, but that doesn't mean we should abandon it.

▶ 0:18:33Um again, because I think abandoning the UN just speeds China's progress there. I mean, what when I went to the UN a couple years ago, they were detailing to me how China has you know, a couple thousand interns all over the organization and those interns get paid by China and then those interns eventually wind up taking jobs within the organization, where in America, we don't pay our interns. Right? And as a result, they intern there and then they mostly leave. And so the UN is hiring more and more Chinese employees that the CCP put there.

▶ 0:19:03Uh and that's why, you know, we're we're not fighting the same battle um that that that China is fighting. It's why if you [clears throat] look at the votes on, you know, when you get out of like, you know, the the councils, but you look at the regular votes of just UN members, I mean, China controls more votes than we control now based on, you know, their road and bridge initiative and other initiatives of spending money in Latin America and in Africa and other places, you know, they went around and spent a ton of money in all these small countries and picked up a ton of votes um at uh at the UN.

▶ 0:19:34Uh additionally, one of the most serious concerns uh is the you know, the amount of anti-Semitism uh that exists at UN bodies and agencies um having nothing to do with, you know, uh their feelings on Israel. We've seen this rhetoric from uh Francesca Albanese uh, several times. Many members have uh, on a bipartisan basis put letters together on the unlimited amounts of anti-Semitism that have come from her.

▶ 0:20:03Uh, and yet the UN still refuses uh, to to deal with her. And we see the double, triple, quadruple standard uh, obviously when it comes to uh, the war uh, between Israel and Hamas. And we don't see that from the UN on the war between Russia and Ukraine. We don't see that from the UN on what's happened in the Sudan. We don't see that from the UN on what's going on uh, with Iran. Where was the UN when 30,000 plus people were killed in Iran for protesting?

▶ 0:20:31And and and so all of these things are are true. I just again don't believe that means we abandon the institution. We recognize its problems and we have to figure out how to fix it. Leaving it only speeds this situation up even faster. Uh, and allows China uh, to control uh, the organization. And you know, I think we need to think carefully on how we respond to these problems.

▶ 0:20:53We have to argue to to and and disin and and the answer is not just to disengage or you know, or or withholding funds that could then be replaced by by Chinese dollars. you know, stepping back from participation or withdrawing from individual bodies, um, you know, is something we've talked about. And I understand uh, obviously uh, the the frustration.

▶ 0:21:15Um, you know, among the bodies at the UN uh, that we have not uh, that we have disengaged that uh, with our our focused on is addressing children in armed conflict, sexual violence in conflict, uh, and violence against children. I know that everyone in this room can agree that protecting children in conflict zones and ensuring that they have the tools to grow are worthy goals. In fact, uh, First Lady Melania Trump recently presided over a UN Security Council meeting uh, and rightfully highlighted these needs just 2 weeks ago after we pulled out of related entities.

▶ 0:21:46And so that again highlights that there are still things that uh, are important at the UN and are working. Um, and so look, when the United States again pulls back from these international organizations, uh, we do not necessarily drag the rest of the world with us. We leave a void uh, that we're seeing that that China fills. And so uh, you know, I could I could go on. I'm over my my [clears throat] 5 minutes. I appreciate the the chairman's uh, indulgence in in letting me talk and I look forward to asking questions uh, for the witnesses. So thank you so much.

▶ 0:22:15Thank you to the ranking member. At this time I'll recognize myself for my opening statements. Good afternoon and welcome to today's hearings on titled the UN accountability at the United Nations challenge and opportunities for reform. On behalf of the House Committee of Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Intelligence, I welcome our witnesses. We are grateful to have you with us and look forward to your testimony.

▶ 0:22:36If the American people have learned anything from President Trump, it is that we should not tolerate the status quo if it does not make America safer, stronger, more prosperous, and promote our values. That is why we are having this conversation today. Over 80 years ago in the aftermath of World War II, the United States championed the establishment of the United Nations with the primary purpose of promoting global peace and security.

▶ 0:23:00At a time when the world was still recovering from the most destructive war in history, the UN's founders sought to prevent such a war from ever happening Today, the United Nations bureaucracy has 193 member states with over 100,000 personnel and a total budget of $3.7 billion a year, becoming a bloated and ineffective organization. Peacekeeping missions and humanitarian programs have continued for decades as conflicts have yet to resolve.

▶ 0:23:28Authoritarian tyrants have gone on to abuse human rights with only UN reports and strongly worded letters to stop them from their attempts. When we talk about the idea of preventing funding to certain things like peacekeeping, I want to remind everyone the examples of what President Trump has done as a peacemaker. Armenia and Azerbaijan, Cambodia and Thailand, Rwanda and the DRC, India and Pakistan, Egypt and Ethiopia, Serbia and Kosovo, the Abraham Accords, Gaza and the Board of Peace.

▶ 0:23:58These are just examples of what President Trump has done without the need of additional peacekeeping funding. We have a serious problem when the UN member states invoke international law to condemn democratic nations, particularly the United States and Israel, for their self-defense while simultaneously shielding authoritarian human rights abusers like Nicolas Maduro and the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from accountability.

▶ 0:24:24When Iran is nominated to the UN Economic and Social Council's Committee on Program and Coordination, a committee which is responsible for shaping UN priorities on human rights and counterterrorism, we have a serious And earlier this week, Iran, as the chairman had pointed out, was nominated to serve as vice president on the UN Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference. And absolutely laughable.

▶ 0:24:55We have a serious problem when anti-Semitism in the UN is something that has been widely condemned and never again reappears in international forums that give disproportionate amount of attention to Israel while others around the world's most severe human rights abusers remain ignored, including, as pointed out, the estimated 1 million Uyghur that the Chinese Communist Party forced into concentration camps.

▶ 0:25:20We also cannot forget that the UN has not only been a forum for hypocrisy and EU efforts to push abortion and radical gender ideology, it also employed Hamas terrorists who killed an estimated 1,200 innocent people on October 7th. If the international peace organization the United States championed is not holding human rights abusers accountable, then the UN risks doing the opposite, ultimately illegitimizing uh, legitimizing them.

▶ 0:25:47The American people are justified to question why their taxpayer dollars should continue to support institutions that employ terrorists and that fall short of the founding principles. While the UN has great potential, the UN needs serious reform.

▶ 0:26:03We must ensure that all taxpayer dollars sent to the UN are not supporting US adversaries, leftists, and woke pet projects or actual terrorists We must ensure that the US contributes contributions advance US interests and establish long-term results. And we must consider reforms not only to top-line budget items, but to how the UN operates as a whole and an organization to include how it conducts employee vetting, as well as its internal investigations and criminal activity.

▶ 0:26:32The United States has an opportunity to leverage US funding to reform the UN system and see a new found excellence in international organizations. We look forward to discussing these opportunities with you. And with that, I open it up for the opening statements of our witnesses. We'll start with you, Mr.

▶ 0:26:56Uh, Chairman Mills, Ranking Member Moskowitz, uh, distinguished members of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Intelligence, thank you for the opportunity to testify here today. I appreciate the Subcommittee's focus on how the United States can best leverage its extraordinary financial and political influence to advance reforms in the United Nations systems to serve US interests. The US is by far the most important financial contributor to the UN system.

▶ 0:27:20Over the 10 fiscal years from 2015 to 2024, the United States provided approximately $147 billion to international organizations with more than three quarters of that going to the UN and its affiliated bodies. In 2024 alone, the US accounted for over 30% of government contributions to the UN system, more than $14 billion. This This is equivalent to the combined contributions of 183 other nations.

▶ 0:27:47It was more than the combined contributions of Germany, the UK, China, and Japan, respectively the second, third, fourth, and fifth largest contributors to the UN uh, behind the United States. This level of support provides the US with leverage that, when combined with our Security Council veto and bilateral influence, is unmatched by any other member state. Yet too often that leverage is underutilized or applied inconsistently. The key challenge is not a lack of US influence, but in its application.

▶ 0:28:16The Trump administration has demonstrated that firm use of US leverage can yield results. Financial pressure has driven a historic reduction in the UN regular budget, eliminated thousands of UN staff positions, and improved oversight. It has been critical in driving member state engagement with the Secretary General's UN 80 reform effort.

▶ 0:28:36It will remain essential um, to rally support for eliminating unnecessary mandates, and uh, to consolidate and eliminate duplicative entities. The administration's willingness to use its Security Council veto and condition funding has strengthened US negotiating power over peacekeeping operations.

▶ 0:28:57It has lowered costs and precipitated a closer scrutiny of long-standing Due to US efforts, the failed operation in Lebanon is due to close in December. And the renewal of the operation in Western Sahara now specifically supports a realistic political resolution for the More broadly, the president's decision to review US participation in international organizations was both necessary and overdue.

▶ 0:29:24America should not fund or remain a member of organizations that operate contrary to US interests, undermine our sovereignty, or fail to perform their core missions. The willingness of the president to suspend funding created a unique leverage to press for reform. But withdrawal and withholding are To secure successful outcomes, pressure must be paired with specific demands and The review process has been slow and uneven this far, unfortunately.

▶ 0:29:54Months of delay, combined with limited public explanation of decisions, have left both US agencies and major recipient organizations in limbo. That uncertainty weakens American influence and makes reform harder, not When an When an organization is worth supporting, the US should say so explicitly and articulate why that support advances US interests.

▶ 0:30:17Equally important, when the United States withdraws or cuts funding, those decisions should be accompanied by a clear rationale explaining what failed and what reforms would be required to restore US support. Sticks must be paired with carrots. When reforms are adopted, they must be rewarded. Paying arrears in exchange for concrete reforms reinforces US credibility and leverage. It shows the United States is negotiating in good faith. Looking forward, Congress has a critical role to play.

▶ 0:30:45Legislation tying funding to specific reforms on budgeting, transparency, staff conduct, and oversight have historically been critical drivers of change. Recent appropriations language, such as the requirement for the administration to negotiate agreements with UN organizations to facilitate oversight access by US Inspectors General, builds on that successful tradition. In conclusion, the United States should be selective, clear, and strategic in its engagement with international organizations.

▶ 0:31:15They are not all the same, and being a member of the United Nations does not require US participation in all UN system organizations or entities. We should prioritize you know organizations that advance US interests, withdraw from those that do not, and use our financial leverage to demand measurable reforms. If applied with consistency and transparency, American leadership backed by financial leverage can reshape the UN system in ways that are that better serve both the US taxpayer and US national interests.

▶ 0:31:45Thank you very much, and I look forward to your questions. Uh thank you, Mr. Schaefer. And now I recognize Mr. Kontorovich for your opening statement, please. Uh thank you, Representative uh Baird, Ranking Member Moskowitz, honorable members of the subcommittee. Uh appreciate the opportunity to speak with you about how to reform the United Nations. We all agree some reform is needed, but how to do it?

▶ 0:32:14Congress has been discussing the UN's lack of accountability and need for reform for decades. Yet Turtle Bay's budget increases almost ineluctably, and it continues to expand its sphere of operations and ambitions. We need to adopt new tools to force UN reform or scale down our involvement in a lasting way. Let's be honest, this is not easy because the UN is designed for maximum non-accountability.

▶ 0:32:43As a supranational institution with nearly 200 member states, the monitoring and agency problems inherent in government are amplified. It's run by a treaty from 1945 that can't be amended without the consent of all states. So, most UN reform efforts have focused on cutting or withholding funds. This is an important tool, which we must certainly use, but it's not enough.

▶ 0:33:05History shows that the UN often relapses and drops reforms when a less determined administration comes into office, reforms get abandoned. So, the remainder of my testimony will explain three discrete methods to lock in change short of quitting. This means looking not just where problems are, but where the pressure points are.

▶ 0:33:26My focus is not necessarily on the UN's biggest failings, but rather areas where there's both need for reform and the ability for the United States to force it in a unilateral, endurable way, thus pushing back on the accretive inertial processes by which the UN blob These three strategies in brief, using the Security Council veto to pair back peacekeeping, exiting individual specialized agencies, as well as treaties giving the ICJ jurisdiction, and finally reasserting Congress's role and authority

▶ 0:33:56over decisions to join UN Let's start by discussing peacekeeping Most bloated, politicized, and ineffective UN entities, from UNRWA to the Human Rights Council, cannot be canceled by the United States. Peacekeeping missions are the exception because they require uh typically annual reauthorization from the Security Council, which means the United States can veto that reauthorization.

▶ 0:34:22Once vetoed, a peacekeeping mission cannot be resurrected without a new affirmative Security Council vote. Some peacekeeping missions have played valuable roles, but like many UN entities, they continue to exist long after any real need for them has ended. Indeed, the UN derives influence and patronage opportunities from these missions, whose blue helmets make the organization seem like a real So, Trump The Trump administration has already begun to sunset UNIFIL.

▶ 0:34:48That's a powerful, important example to end this year, but it's not over until it's over. Uh some other examples where of missions that can be reevaluated, UNDOF in the Golan Heights is supposed to supervise a demilitarized zone between Israel and Syria, but it runs away whenever the shooting starts. Changes on the ground after the Syrian Civil War make this DMZ irrelevant, and the organization has never been able to prevent conflict. Other missions are perpetually plagued by scandal and abuse of the kind no American taxpayer should be forced to subsidize.

▶ 0:35:18MONUSCO in the Democratic Republic of Congo, MINUSCA in the Central African Republic have for years between them accounted for the vast majority, almost all, of sex abuse claims against UN peacekeepers. There's something fundamentally broken and unfixable in those missions. We can use the veto of these missions not just to scale down the scope of UN peacekeeping, but also as a pressure point to leverage change over other UN agencies. Now, the United Second, exiting specialized agencies.

▶ 0:35:48The United Nations is not just one organization, it's a web of entities. Most of them we cannot quit without quitting the United Nations. Some have individual treaties and individual uh uh membership, which we can begin to However, like little-used online subscriptions, a member America's membership in such organizations proceeds unexamined through inertia. Take the International Organization on Migration, which has proposed a global carbon tax.

▶ 0:36:15Ambassador Waldron the Trump administration managed to stop that this year, last year, but ultimately, to keep America out of this system, we're going to have to take America potentially out of the Uh the International Organization for Migration, $1.7 billion a year, sponsors the Global Compact for Migration, which the US has described as not compatible with US sovereignty.

▶ 0:36:39Uh now, finally, once we leave these and other we need to make sure that re-entry is not just a revolving door. Now, when the US joined the World Health Organization, uh UNESCO, and other of these organizations, Congress had to affirmatively vote to approve But when the US has re-entered UNESCO, three times now, no separate congressional authorization was That's a mistake.

▶ 0:37:08Congress should have to approve re-entry. It's not a season ticket or a lifetime pass. Authorization of membership should be a one-time use. Otherwise, these agencies become like a dreary version of the Hotel California, where you can check out anytime, but never leave. Thank you. I look forward to your questions. Thank you, Mr. Kontorovich. And I now recognize Mr. Garin Groh for for an opening statement.

▶ 0:37:35Thank you, uh Representative Baird and Ranking Member Moskowitz, honorable Um The UN Charter envisions a system for cooperation between sovereign states, but the UN increasingly operates and is described as a system for global A complex web of agreements imposes common policy targets on all countries and allows UN bureaucrats to interfere in domestic policy debates.

▶ 0:38:03UN reforms must address this UN overreach on controversial social policies, including abortion on demand, gender ideology, the sexualization of children, DEI, and censorship, just to name a few. These policies are having a real effect on our national laws and international Consider UN gender policy.

▶ 0:38:26They have infected all international and domestic programs for women with gender Before woke gender programs were ever debated in the US, they were mainstreamed across the UN system. Over 70% of UN mandates have a gender A $600 UN agency is exclusively dedicated to lobbying for gender ideology everywhere in the world. UN gender policies have seeped into US policy at all levels.

▶ 0:38:57Federal legislation includes gender without ever defining the term. Gender integration has been codified in US foreign aid in US foreign aid law. Proposed congressional bills stigmatize and prosecute opponents of gender ideology as international criminals. Executive orders tie US foreign policy to UN gender agreements.

▶ 0:39:19Some states and municipalities adopt UN gender policies as their own and directly report to the UN on their Democrat-aligned groups plan their policies based on UN policy.

▶ 0:39:33If this can happen in the US, imagine what is happening in countries that don't have a tradition of self-government or a functioning fiscal The UN employs over 130,000 bureaucrats trained, hired, and promoted through gender and DEI practices. That's 50,000 more than the US State Department.

▶ 0:39:55And it doesn't include the vast network of government-funded NGOs that work hand-in-hand with the UN Unlike politicians, they think in 10, 20, and 30-year terms. They don't respect any limits to their power, and they say that UN treaties are living They opportunistically wait for a favorable moment to push their agenda Who controls this vast bureaucracy? Not Not the president.

▶ 0:40:23Not the American Even though UN bodies act in the name of the entire UN membership, it is whoever pays for UN programs that gets to decide what goes into them. Over the last 25 years, voluntary contributions have grown to 70% of the entire UN budget. This is the real UN budget. I have an image in my written testimony. I was hoping it would come up, but it doesn't. If it can come up, if it shows up, you'll see it.

▶ 0:40:52It shows a an exponential growth growth of the voluntary UN budget. So, UN budget cuts are laudable, but they don't affect UN policy or voluntary contributions from other countries, only US voluntary contributions. There you see, there's the the graph that hopefully shows the exponential transformation of the UN system.

▶ 0:41:13So, now that over $50 billion of the UN budget are voluntary contributions, and they're not affected by the recent budget cuts, um other than the portion from the United States. The European Union and Anglophone countries jointly provide 60% of UN voluntary contributions, nearly 40% from the European Union alone. And there's a a pie chart as well that should come up next. There you go.

▶ 0:41:41That shows that's sort of a a little bit of a map of the geopolitical map of influence at the United Nations. Unsurprisingly, looking at this chart, UN policy promotes EU priorities above all.

▶ 0:41:55In this perspective, the biggest obstacle to UN reform is the European I witnessed several proposals for real UN reform from the Trump administration in recent months, including efforts to define gender as referring only to men and women, to end UN promotion of abortion on demand, and to rule out sex-rejecting procedures for children in UN programs. These are included in my written testimony. The EU proactively opposed all of these reforms.

▶ 0:42:26They postured it as a as a US rival, undercut US positions, installed UN debates rather than entertain US proposals in any way. This agenda is radical. The EU promotes global censorship, AI regulation to control political debates everywhere, including the free speech of Americans. It is also promoting a treaty to make opposition to gender ideology a crime against humanity.

▶ 0:42:54UN reform requires more US engagement at the UN, not less. This includes leveraging all the resources of the State Department, bilateral assistance, and creating new strategic coalitions. Budget cuts should not be pursued just for their own sake, but also to achieve policy change.

▶ 0:43:14As we celebrate the 250th birthday of our nation, we should remind all the other nations of the world that we are the longest-standing self-governing republic in the world. Over time, everyone will recognize the US as the most benign and reliable of all the geopolitical actors vying for their friendship. Many already know it to be true. Thank you. Thank you so much. At this time, we'd like to recognize, and I apologize if I say this wrong, Mr. Gennarini. Oh, I'm sorry.

▶ 0:43:45Excuse me. Mr. Yeo, I now recognize Oh, we're done with the Okay. Um I will move now to Mr. Yeo for your opening statements. Fantastic. Thank you very much, Chairman Mills, Ranking Member Moskowitz, and members of the subcommittee for the opportunity to testify today. I would just note at the outset that Iran was selected as one of the 34 vice chairs of the non-proliferation conference by non-aligned countries, not by the United Nations.

▶ 0:44:14No senior UN official, no UN official had anything to do with that. And I would urge you to direct your anger towards their embassies in Washington and in New York for their pushing of this issue. I would also note that the multilateral security force in Haiti was not run by the United Nations. This is a case where going it alone presents great challenges. Um I've been working on UN reform issues for three decades, including helping to negotiate the Helms- Biden UN reform package in the 1990s.

▶ 0:44:43Over the past 18 months, I have seen historic cost and personnel cuts at the UN at the UN. The UN Secretary General was asked to do this, and he delivered. Ambassador Mike Wallace and his team deserve great credit for highlighting the need for cuts in this fiscal environment, while also touting the clear benefits of US engagement. In order for continued progress on reform with important work streams and mandates and consolidation pending, the US must be fully engaged, and the UN must have resources.

▶ 0:45:14Fortunately, this Congress provided near full UN funding in its recently completed FY26 appropriations bill. Ultimately, the existence or absence of US leadership and funding in the months ahead will determine whether we just complete a half UN reform marathon or the full 26.2 miles. For perspective, the Helms-Biden package in the 1990s is sometimes cited as the right model for progress. Link US dues to UN reforms.

▶ 0:45:43Indeed, if used judiciously, US financial leverage can encourage UN member states and senior officials to make tough choices and trade-offs. But there's one important difference to keep in mind. Helms-Biden was negotiated after decades of the US paying its UN regular budget dues in full. Back then, our negotiating partners knew the US was good for the money.

▶ 0:46:05However, in 2025, the US permanently eliminated nearly a year's worth of UN regular budget funds for the first time in American history, and has only sent a small down payment of the full UN funding that Congress just appropriated in 2026. The US currently owes more than $2 billion to the UN's regular budget. As a result, the Secretary General has warned of an impending financial collapse.

▶ 0:46:29In short, US success in advancing further UN reform, the full marathon, is dependent upon restarting the flow of US funding in line with congressional appropriations. UN member states, our negotiating partners, need to trust that when they agree to reforms, the US will uphold its end of the bargain and pay what it owes. At the moment, that confidence is not there. So, let's recap events.

▶ 0:46:54Just a few months ago, the General Assembly, with strong support from the Trump administration, adopted a budget with the largest reduction ever, both in dollar and percentage terms. This was driven by four key cost-saving measures. First, the elimination of 2,900 staff posts, representing a nearly 20% reduction in staffing at UN headquarters in New York. Two, offshoring administrative functions. Three, pooling HR, procurement, and finance services. And four, cuts to travel.

▶ 0:47:23US Ambassador for management and reform, Jeff Bartos, commended the UN for these steps. But the UN is not stopping there. There are active negotiations happening about advancing other aspects of reform, again called UN80, with major opportunities to further reduce the budget and increase efficiency and effectiveness. But the Secretary General is limited in terms of what he can do unilaterally. Many of the reforms currently being hashed out will ultimately require approval by UN member states.

▶ 0:47:54To ensure progress on our reform-related priorities, the US will have to be at the table making constructive proposals, bringing our allies on side, and assembling a broad-based coalition. And certainly, we have seen before how best to advance this type of reform and mobilize these types of coalitions. As a reminder, UN reform has been happening without the threat of withholding UN dues.

▶ 0:48:16In the past 10 years, through constructive engagement, the UN and its member states agreed to changes that reduced the peacekeeping budget by 35% over a decade, cut thousands in personnel, reimagined partnerships with regional groups like the African Union, revitalized the resident coordinator system. And we worked closely with the UN on having more countries provide more troops, burden-sharing at its best. Burden-sharing overall is manifestly in our interest.

▶ 0:48:42These peacekeeping operations help stabilize volatile areas of the world without putting US troops in harm's way. Plus, we get UN programs that identify and contain deadly diseases before they reach US shores. In addition, we get humanitarian aid that often saves includes goods from American farmers, saves the lives of tens of millions of people. And we get global cooperation to address fentanyl trafficking.

▶ 0:49:06And for all of this, if you add up total US financial contributions to the UN, it's less than the yearly budget of Rhode Island. Ultimately, these investments are in our interests. Now, should the US UN keep reforming to meet current demands? Absolutely. To keep the momentum going, the US make must make good on its financial commitments, deliver what Congress generously appropriated, and ensure that American interests can continue to be advanced in the years ahead. Thank you very much.

▶ 0:49:35Thank you so much, Mr. Yeo. I now recognize myself for 5 minutes for my There we go. I want to talk about UNRWA and Hamas for a moment. The USAID Office of the Inspector General has been at the forefront of holding UNRWA accountable for their employees' involvement on October 7th.

▶ 0:50:00Among those USAID OIG referred for suspension and disbarment was an UNRWA school principal that commanded a Hamas battalion on October How can the United States continue to hold the UN accountable for terrorism and criminal activity when it's committed by their UN employees? Um I'll go to any of the gentlemen who would like to address this. Mr. Shafer?

▶ 0:50:24100% UNRWA is a corrupt organization has been captured by elements of Hamas, other terrorist groups. Unfortunately, they've been infiltrated the organization. They have been represented among the staff. They have helped conceal the placement of arms, uh headquarters, uh communications equipment, uh other facilities under UNRWA headquarters, under facilities, uh schools, hospitals, etc. It's an absolute outrage.

▶ 0:50:52Uh the United States is right to cut funding from UNRWA. We should be working to try and end the Uh not only is it corrupted by the presence of terrorists within their uh within the organization, uh but it's also vastly inefficient. Uh if you take a look at, for instance, the other uh refugee organizations at the UN system, uh the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, that organization covers 120 million refugees around the world.

▶ 0:51:19UNRWA covers um about 6 million in terms of um the number of Palestinians that would be under its jurisdiction. Um the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees handles their um responsibilities at about $40 per UNRWA handles it at about $800 per refugee.

▶ 0:51:42UNRWA's expected to not only provide assistance for refugees in temporary circumstances, but for generations upon generations of Palestinians. They provide schooling. They provide food. They provide shelter. They provide health care. They provide other services. These are services that should be provided by a government which the Palestinians claim to be.

▶ 0:52:02This is uh encouraging the Palestinians from from fulfilling the responsibilities of a government and allows them to instead focus their ire, their attention, their resources on places that it shouldn't be, which is terrorism and support for extremism. I appreciate that. Something that we need to end. I appreciate that. And just a quick yes or no from our Should the US push for reforms related to diplomatic immunity that protects these individuals? Uh yes, 100%.

▶ 0:52:29The Secretary General should be pressed to explain the circumstances under which he will waive those privileges and immunities. And Mr. Kantorovich?

▶ 0:52:36Any US funding should be tied to a waiver of immunity for UNRWA. Answer [snorts] for you, Mr. uh Mr. Subana. Uh yes, I would agree with regards to all uh UN agencies, the the immunity needs to be uh limited. And Mr. I I agree that the US mission should actively discuss this with the Secretary General as part of a broader reform initiative. Thank you so much.

▶ 0:52:57And I absolutely agree that these individuals, if the US and the United Nations claims to be the individuals who are peacekeepers or going to prevent war, they must be able to hold accountable the bad actors who are actually within the United Nations. I want to go to UN internal oversight since we're talking about Considering that the office is largely dependent on funding from the same UN programs it audits,

▶ 0:53:18what is your view of the UN Office of Internal International Oversight Services to monitor UN programs and address allegations of criminal activity? Does the UN shield its employees, you think, from Uh a simple just yes or no if we can I just want to move through a couple of things, but It is not a truly independent oversight body. Thank you so much. Yeah, the problems with UNRWA are really problems with the UN Secretariat. I would agree. I'm not sure I'm qualified to to answer that question.

▶ 0:53:48I'm I'm I follow more social policy and uh in that respect all aspects of Secretariat work have been infected by radical social policy.

▶ 0:53:58Let me Let me simplify it then so I can get an easier answer. If your job was to oversee a program, but knowing that if you find wrongdoing in that program, it also cuts your paycheck, do you think there's a conflict of interest or maybe there might be a bit of shielding that goes on? Certainly. Thank you. Mr. Yo? I disagree. Um OIOS is a strong and independent auditor works very closely with the US mission and the State Department share information. Well, I actually think that I would agree with the first three panelists regarding this.

▶ 0:54:25Um but let's go on to really quickly in the last few seconds of my the UN hypocrisy on Iran. Do each of our witnesses share Iran be shaping international policies on human rights, disarmament, and This is the Yeah, it's it's an outrageous um situation for Iran to have that kind of placement and membership on these bodies to dictate policy, help shape policy on human rights, nuclear nonproliferation, other issues inside the UN system.

▶ 0:54:56Uh it's the peril of having a universal membership organization and also the double peril of having a number of member states that simply don't um see eye to eye with the United States in terms of advancing these policies. Uh if you took a textualist approach to the UN Charter, Iran would be ineligible as a non-peace-loving state. Agreed. Mr. Uh yes or no? Yeah, I'd ask you unanimous consent if you're done. Uh I'm just waiting on the last two.

▶ 0:55:25Oh, I'm sorry. I apologize. Please continue. I I would agree with Mr. Shafer on his answer. It's really built into the design of the UN system because of universal membership. I would largely agree with Brett Shafer. I would just note that the anger about Iran being leadership positions, you should be calling the embassies of all the countries that sponsored their leadership role today and let them know how angry you are. There was no UN official involved in any of these decisions. I would agree. Unfortunately, strongly worded letters have not been very effective against Iran.

▶ 0:55:54And I think real action, reform, and accountability is what's actually necessary. Um I appreciate you guys and my ranking member for indulging me for the additional time. Uh at this time, I will recognize Mr. Moskowitz. One minute.

▶ 0:56:06for unanimous consent? Appropriate to your comments, I ask unanimous consent that my letter of September 23rd, 2025 calling on the Secretary General to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization uh be placed in the record. And additionally, his response more than a month later talking about the need for peace and a permanent ceasefire, but not responsive to my letter. Without objection. Thank you, gentlemen. With that, I'll turn it to Ranking Member Mr. Moskowitz for 5 minutes. Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman.

▶ 0:56:40Mr. Gennerini, I have I say that right? I saw your graph, right? I I would be interested to see the the graph and overlaying that with the US Uh you know, obviously our the spending at the at our the UN goes up, but I'm just also curious if that's just not an outlier that our spending has gone up uh in the US budget in the same way and if that's just caught up in it. I'm I'm just curious if you looked at that.

▶ 0:57:06Yeah, US funding for the UN has increased um in more or less at the same rate as from other donors to the UN system. In fact, it's generally fairly coordinated voluntary contributions in terms of uh how member states sort of divvy up their spheres of influence at the UN. Mr. Yo, you you you mentioned obviously that no one from the UN uh appointed Iran to that and then it was all donor states.

▶ 0:57:35But did did the anyone from the UN come out and criticize their appointment? I'm just The job of UN officials is to work with all 193 member states.

▶ 0:57:45nobody has like an opinion? They may have opinions. Their job is to make sure that these uh convenings of global states to discuss important nonproliferation matters

▶ 0:57:53I mean, the Secretary seems to have a lot of opinions about what happens in the Middle East. He's commented on that a lot of times, but Indeed. It's between the Israel between the Israel and Hamas war, but Yeah, I agree. He's repeatedly, as you know, denounced the Hamas attacks on Israel, uh repeatedly met with uh families of the hostages when they're

▶ 0:58:10it's not really a hard statement. Like, you know, he could come out and say, you know, look, obviously it wasn't his pick, but you know, maybe they're not like the best country to be on that panel, you know.

▶ 0:58:19you. I hear you. Okay. So, you know, I I understand they didn't pick, but you know, they they maybe have an obligation to to to weigh in. I want I want to do a just cuz I am curious about this. Is it uh Mr. uh Kantorovich? Yeah. Okay. So, cuz I'm curious about this. I want to just run like a like a what if. So, what if we were going to pull out of the UN? And what if we were going to say you can't be in New York anymore?

▶ 0:58:49And then Beijing comes in and says, we got a building for you. Okay, beautiful building. Okay. Um you can come here. And now the UN is in Beijing. And all the countries around the world now could don't come to New York anymore. They go to Beijing. And you know, they're funding 70% of of the UN. I cuz to be Look, I I think there's bipartisan agreement that there are major issues.

▶ 0:59:19I think where there's some disagreement is, you know, do you use the budget to try to reform it, right? Do you use the threat of support to try to reform it, or do you leave? And the do you leave situation for me, I I just don't see how that gets better. So I just wanted to discuss that.

▶ 0:59:36Could I address the hypothetical? So so I don't think leaving is a realist is within the political horizon, which is why I don't address it. But but what I would I think it is worth looking at what would happen. Because you know, the argument but China's going to take over or China will sort of eat our cake if we if we pull back is one of the major arguments against US pull back at the United Nations. But but I think it's worth saying that the United Nations without the United States is not the same United Nations. It is not the same prize for China to take over.

▶ 1:00:06With the United States in, it makes sense for China to try to assert influence because it has vastly more credibility. Without the United Nations, not just in budgetary terms, 25%, right? It's it's in theory a fundamentally different organization. I don't think anyone wants to be in Beijing as much as they want to be in New York, and parking would certainly be much better. So so I don't I don't I wouldn't catastrophize it.

▶ 1:00:29There would be definitely draw drawbacks, but what I think is catastrophic is ruling that out as an from the beginning because it makes it a too big to fail lock-in situation. Well, that's but actually a great point, right? Is is the UN too big to fail, right? I mean, is that's a that's a good question. Uh which you know, I understand maybe from a negotiation standpoint, you don't want to take any option off the table. I'm fine with that.

▶ 1:00:51But but really reform reform seems to be the main option, the best of all options rather than like what we did with the Which which is which is less than quitting the United Nations. Right? That's a a kind of scaled-down version. Um I don't have anything else. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. All right, thank you so much. At this time, we'll recognize the gentleman from Indiana, Mr. Baird, for 5 minutes. Thank you, Mr.

▶ 1:01:21Chairman, and thank you to the witnesses for giving insight on the opportunities we have to reform the American participation and funding of the UN. You know, the UN is filled with inadequacies and its personnel management, its implementation of programs, and oversight and accountability of UN agencies.

▶ 1:01:42And while originally established to maintain peace and security, as well as developing friendly relations and worldwide cooperation in economic and humanitarian issues, the organization has now forged its own policy that frequently contradicts the priorities of the United States. And one one example of this is uh UNRWA uh employing proven Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip. And I think uh Mr. Shafer, you made reference to that in your testimony.

▶ 1:02:13As at least 10 employees of the agency were identified to have also partaken in the heinous acts of October the 7th. Another example in this is when the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, personnel shot down an Israeli surveillance drone that was conducting a mission against Hezbollah terrorists.

▶ 1:02:34President Trump and UN Ambassador Mike Waltz have taken a step in the right direction to ensure that the UN acts in the interest of member countries instead of formulating their own policies that serve well its contributions and balance So, here's the first question. How can the US effectively conduct oversight within the United Nations agencies to ensure terrorists and human rights violators aren't retained for And I'll just go right down the rows.

▶ 1:03:05Mr. Shafer. Uh thank you very much for the question. Um this is a big problem because the United States provides billions of dollars in voluntary contributions to UN humanitarian organizations, UN uh assistance organizations, um World Food Program, the High Commissioner for Refugees, uh etc.

▶ 1:03:24Um historically, the US has provided a lot of this that assistance through the UI which had contracts and uh conditions on that assistance that would require uh NGOs to vet their personnel and check how that spending was spent uh with the Office of Internal uh of I'm sorry, the OIG uh for USAID USAID.

▶ 1:03:54ending USAID, while which I had a lot of problems with and had uh some criticism for, um has unfortunately eliminated a lot of the ways that we have in the past vetted US assistance going to NGOs. Now, a difference between the NGOs and the UN is that the UN often would refuse to allow that kind of vetting and oversight of its expenditures and its staffing.

▶ 1:04:19So, the United States needs to enter into agreements with and this was in the appropriations bill that was recently passed from the subcommittee. Uh we need to make sure that all these organizations enter into into agreements with the United States that allow us to vet their staff and allow us to track the funding that goes through them to make sure that it's used for the intended purpose, and that all contractors, subcontractors, and other um recipients of that funding also are subject to US oversight and vetting to make sure that terrorists and others do not inappropriately

▶ 1:04:50get access to US funding. Um the an example of how not to do this is the recent contract that the United States entered into with OCHA, which is the office uh for the um uh coordination of humanitarian affairs at the United Nations. Uh the US gave $2 billion to OCHA and identified countries that it was going to do, but essentially this was a blank check. There was no US oversight. There's no US direct uh ability to direct the funds to certain organizations.

▶ 1:05:18It left the vetting of personnel solely to the UN uh consolidated list, which is the UN Security Council, which does not include organizations like Hamas or Hezbollah. So, we need to close this loophole if we want to really make sure that we address your concern. You know, I I would agree with Mr.

▶ 1:05:35Shafer's comments and add we need to make sure that when the UN commits when the UN, you know, members, employees commit terrorism and with American that American victims be able to sue in American courts. Currently, UN organizations, UN employees have greater immunity than the president of the United States. The UN has greater immunity than foreign countries. If a foreign country, like Korea or North Korea or Iran, sponsor terrorism, you can sue them in US courts.

▶ 1:06:06But due to a lacuna in the International Organizations Immunity Act, there is no such textual uh allowance for lawsuits against UN entities or other international organizations that sponsor terror. Senator Cruz introduced an excellent bill last year, the LIAB Act, which would allow for suing international organizations that provide material support to terror groups, and it would be wonderful to see something like that come out of the house. Thank you, and I must uh I apologize to the other two witnesses.

▶ 1:06:36We're out of And you're back. Thank you so much. Um Ranking Member, I believe you have a couple of documents to enter in. Yes, uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a couple of UC requests. Uh New York Times uh article entitled UN says it's in danger of financial collapse because of unpaid dues, a report from the International Crisis Group titled New US aid conditions threaten UN work on women, peace, and security, a Associated Press article entitled Melania Trump presides at UN Security Council meeting on children in conflict as US attacks Iran, a Washington Post article titled After

▶ 1:07:06blasting WHO calls, Trump officials propose more expensive alternative, and lastly, uh a Devex article entitled Exclusive: US threatens to hold UN funding unless conditions are met. Thank you. Without objection. At this time, I'll represent or I'll turn it over to 4 5 minutes to the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Jackson. Well, thank you, Chairman Mills. I'm grateful for your leadership. Mr.

▶ 1:07:34Chairman, the United States has long stood at the backbone of the United Nations, not just in principle, but in Yet recent cuts to the US contributions are not just budget decisions. They are strategic retreats with global both intended and unintended. Consider the numbers. The US has historically provided roughly 22% of the UN's regular budget and about 27% of its peacekeeping budget, more than any other nation.

▶ 1:08:03In recent years, funding reductions and arrears have left hundreds of millions of dollars unpaid from commitments that we've made, weakening operations on the ground of the United Nations. The UN reports that as of March 30th, 2026, US outstanding balances totaled over $2 towards the United Nations regular budget and about 2.2 billion for active and inactive UN peacekeeping operations. What does that mean in practice?

▶ 1:08:32It means fewer resources for peacekeeping missions that stabilize conflict zones. It means cuts to humanitarian programs that run by agencies like the World Food Food Program, which serves over 100 million people annually, and the UNICEF, which delivers life-saving aid to children in over 190 countries. When the US pulls back, the gap just doesn't disappear.

▶ 1:08:58It forces program It delays emergency responses, and it opens the door for geopolitical competitors. Nature fills a vacuum. Particularly, we see this with China. China has expanded their influence within the UN system, shaping global norms in ways that may not align with American values or interests. Let's be clear. Every dollar cut may save money in the short term, but it risks far greater costs down the line.

▶ 1:09:28Instability abroad leads to crisis that demand far more expensive interventions later in military, humanitarian, and economic. For less than 1% of the United States federal budget, our contribution to the United Nations helps prevent conflict, combat disease, and deliver humanitarian aid worldwide and is a part of our diplomacy. This is not charity, let's be clear. This is an investment in global security and US leadership.

▶ 1:09:57If we abandon this investment, we don't just weaken the United Nations, we work weaken ourselves. I hope Congress and the administration will consider these cuts and reaffirm America's commitment to global leadership. Mr. Yo, I have a question for you. What has been the impact of funding cuts on humanitarian programs, if you will, from food aid, refugee support, health initiatives? Please elaborate. Great, thank you.

▶ 1:10:23The obviously the significant reductions in contributions to the World Food have created a situation where they are do not have the resources they need to make sure that people are fed in countries like Sudan, which are experiencing civil war, and there's tens of millions of refugees, IDPs in that country. WFP does not have food to feed people.

▶ 1:10:45And so as a result, people are starving including places like Al Fasher where I visited with two or three years ago and had most of the people that we met with in Al Fasher are now no longer with us in part because the humanitarian assistance that is so necessary to keep people alive is really shrinking from the scene.

▶ 1:11:05I would also note that in the case of um humanitarian aid, I visited Afghanistan last year, met with a clinic that is being provided with support for women who are being battered by their husbands and their family members and US support has meant that this type of assistance to women is now eliminated.

▶ 1:11:29So the cuts are real, but I would also note the Trump administration has continued to invest in humanitarian assistance and we have been very pleased with the commitments that have been made in the context of to stand up a very significant multilateral sort of uh to implementing our humanitarian If I can cut you off in the interest of time, one last question, Mr. Yo.

▶ 1:11:52How do the funding reductions affect your credibility, our credibility, the United States government's credibility when advocating for international norms and rules? Here's the here's the reality. There's a lot more reform that's needed in the United Nations in making it more effective and more efficient. But ultimately when we owe $2 billion in our UN regular budget, which we have never owed in the history of this country, we owe so much in UN peacekeeping at levels that we have not owed in this in in this in the history of this country. This is unprecedented?

▶ 1:12:23Unprecedented. And so as a result, other countries begin to Is it because of this administration? Because of the cuts that have been made over the last two years. And Mr. Chairman, did you hear this? And I I would just note I but I would also note thank you to the chairman and thank you to Democrats and Republicans for fully funding the United Nations in the FY26 Appropriations Bill.

▶ 1:12:42And so because of your support for that bill, we now have a situation where if Congress moves forward with this money and that Congress has appropriated and provides it to the UN, we actually can get the leverage we need to try to further the reform agenda that the administration has put forward. So thank you for the question. Well, Mr. Yo, I want to say thank you for your outstanding career, your Chairman Mills, you have the power. You can make this happen and I thank you in advance. I yield back, sir.

▶ 1:13:12Uh thank you, Mr. Jackson. I will just add really quickly that cutting funding that undermines US priorities and strengthening China is not necessarily true. Strategic selectively is smarter than across-the-board funding. The US should support agencies that work in the fund those that consistently fail or capture authoritarian blocks. My My point in saying this, if I spend a billion dollars, this is something that one of the witnesses said earlier today, out of that billion dollars, sure, I'm going to have a couple of programs that do really great things.

▶ 1:13:40But that doesn't mean that we ignore all the money that it goes to waste, fraud, and abuse. We don't ignore the violations of UNRWA who took place in terroristic attacks. We don't ignore the anti-Semitism that's continuing to creep up and we certainly don't ignore the hypocrisy of the United Nations Security Council who have people like Iran as the new vice president of nuclear nonproliferation. So I think that while I personally don't see the United Nations moving in a positive direction, which is why I've been saying it's known as Useless Nations, not United Nations.

▶ 1:14:08Same as NATO, now stands for Now America Takes Over. I think that we have to look at how we spend taxpayers' dollars, be good stewards of this, and ensure the American interests are actually protected at all times. I thank you, Mr. Jackson, for everything that you do. You're a great colleague, you're a great man. I have tremendous respect for you. With that, I turn it over to the gentleman from Ohio, Ranger Leader Mr. Warren Davidson. Uh thank you, Chairman. I'm glad to have this timely timely hearing.

▶ 1:14:35Thank you to our witnesses and as I listen to at times interject on not just this topic, but lots of them. You know, if we spent more money, they would listen to us. You know, we'd have more influence if we just sent more money. Well, we already send more money, a lot more than anybody else. We we spend more money at the UN than anyone. We give more foreign aid than anyone. you know, it reminds me of a an old song, you know, "Ka-Ching." You know, all they want is more. A lot more than they had before.

▶ 1:15:07Take me to the nearest store. You know, it's a mindset that that that's just vacuous. The United Nations exist to prevent war, to promote peace, and protect human Are we really supposed to measure success by the amount of American wealth we redistribute? I mean, so you know, Southwest Ohio people are looking at New York and say, "What's the benefit of the United Nations? They're not spending their giant budgets on fine dining and entertaining in Southwest Ohio.

▶ 1:15:36They're doing that in New York City." What's the benefit to folks in Southwest Mr. Genereaux, what do you think? Uh very little. And since we're citing songs, I'll cite another song. We don't need no education. We don't need no thought control. And that seems to be one of the main purposes that the European Union is investing in in the United Nations.

▶ 1:15:59They are promoting censorship across all UN agencies, not just a single agency, very much what the Biden administration did um across all federal agencies implementing censorship programming. We're seeing the European Union do that through UN agencies. Yeah, thanks for highlighting that. That's one of the things that excuse me. That's one of the things that both Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio highlighted in in the Munich Security Conferences. What are we defending? What are we defending?

▶ 1:16:28We're spending all these resources in security alliances and everything else. The values that we say we believe aren't being defended. So Mr. Kontorovich, um I'll pronounce your name right. Kontorovich. Kontorovich. Uh thank you so much for being here. And you know, do you buy this?

▶ 1:16:45I mean, I look at it and I've got a bill that that I took over from former colleague that says United Nations Voting Accountability Act that says you know, it would prohibit economic and military assistance to countries that vote with us less than 50% of the time. I mean, you don't have to be perfect. You don't even have to get a B or a C. It's just 50%. And we can't get a vote on that or get it through the house. I hope we take that up and mark it up.

▶ 1:17:12But do you think that if we just spend more money and go along with the globalists at the European Union that that somehow the UN's now going to be more productive? How do we measure success there? So by by obvious measures, we're not getting a great return on the investment. We are voting in the majority about I vote about 10% less than 10% of the time in the in the General Assembly. In other words, 90% of the time they're against us. And but I think we can learn a lot from the European Union.

▶ 1:17:38The European Union spends a lot on foreign affairs and it ties compliance with EU foreign policy to getting their money. Why is Hungary going to rejoin the ICC? Because the EU says, "You want our money, you follow our foreign policy." America does it the other way.

▶ 1:17:55They say, "Here's our money and you know, we don't mind if you go against our foreign policy." So tying supporting America in concrete ways diplomatically at the UN and elsewhere should be you know, absolute precondition to funding the United Nations or or or individual countries or linking this for non-membership in the ICC. So the European Union says, "You want our money, you vote with us as it were, support our foreign policy plays." We don't do that.

▶ 1:18:22rational. I mean, I I don't agree with their policies, but I agree with that one. I mean, the number one export from the European Union seems to be regulation. Um they they want to they want to regulate you know, maritime the International Maritime Organization, a component of the UN. They want to regulate global shipping. They won't even help protect freedom of navigation in the in the waterways.

▶ 1:18:43So um how do we how do we do that in a way that that we do get America's dollars represent America's interests cuz to your point, that's not happening today. Um frankly, I'm I'm kind of surprised at current Trump administration's continued cutting the checks because they haven't proven very helpful. So for example, I could imagine a bill similar to the one you described saying, "Here's the budget for the UN.

▶ 1:19:09We deduct a certain amount if we lose more than half the votes. We deduct even more if we lose 90% of the votes from individual foreign aid packages. We deduct if you don't quit UN organizations that we quit. We we deduct if you decide to remain in the ICC when we've declared it a danger to our So, making those connections explicit. And when I said the Europeans you know are good, I mean they're they're they're good at conducting their foreign policy to advance what they see as their Yeah, thank you.

▶ 1:19:38Maybe we'll just set this last year as a baseline and next year we'll just actually send the checks based on the voting record. That'll be about 10% of the current appropriation. Thanks for the suggestion. Uh my time's expired. Now, you have Thank you so much. At this time we will recognize the gentle lady from Pennsylvania, Ms. Dean for 5 minutes. I thank the chair. Uh I thank the ranking member Moskowitz and the uh full committee chair as well as the full committee ranking member.

▶ 1:20:09Uh and I thank you, all of our witnesses for being here today. Uh first, let me be clear. There has long been bipartisan support for UN system reform. Bipartisan support. The topic of this hearing is not new. I agree with my colleagues on the other side that the UN is not perfect.

▶ 1:20:28Nevertheless, I disagree with the Trump administration's destructive approach to the UN system, including withdrawing from or defunding UN budgets and agencies because it undermines US leadership. It seeds space to our adversaries and alienates our allies. Under the Trump administration the US uses its seat at the table to undermine rules-based order. How destructive.

▶ 1:20:57Including fundamental human rights for the most vulnerable such as women and girls in war and in humanitarian disasters. Earlier this year I had the privilege to travel with the UN Foundation with some of my colleagues here to Ghana and bipartisan colleagues here to Ghana and to Togo, West Africa.

▶ 1:21:17Alongside this bipartisan group we saw first-hand the impacts of US cuts to UN's humanitarian organizations, including for the UN Population Fund, UNFPA programming at a center for victims of gender-based violence. I witnessed first-hand the impact of President Trump's reckless cut to foreign aid and the impacts they had specifically on women and girls, children, and their families.

▶ 1:21:46As it relates to UNFPA, there is misinformation about what kind of health care services the agency does and does not provide. Allow me to clear up one misunderstanding. Neither UNFPA nor any other UN agency provides abortions. Full stop. Here's what they do provide. Here's just one single example.

▶ 1:22:10This is an emergency birth kit which can save lives when women are forced to deliver their babies under challenging conditions like war zones or outside of health care facilities or outside at These kits contain supplies. Let me show some of them to you. I hate to disturb it, it's so well done. But very important supplies. I'll hold some of them up.

▶ 1:22:38It's to help provide prevention of infection during childbirth one of the leading causes of maternal mortality globally, including soap sterile plastic sheet umbilical cord tie, blanket to swaddle the newborn baby, latex gloves. Do you know what this kit costs? That's what it costs to protect a mother and an infant in a challenging world.

▶ 1:23:11That's been cut. The administration should be ashamed. I have to admit, on behalf of this country, I am ashamed. We should all be We're supposed to be about life and protecting life. As for some questions to better understand how the US can partner with the UN to strengthen efforts to advance women's rights and protections in crises let me just read a simple statement. I'm going to ask all of you to think about who you think might have said it. This is a little quiz. Don't get nervous.

▶ 1:23:42You'll all have it.

▶ 1:23:43Uh a US official said, quote, "When women thrive in societies around the world, it makes us safer and more prosperous here at home." End quote. Can you name that US official? Mike Waltz. Exactly right. Exactly right. Some might have guessed Hillary Clinton. We've heard her say similar things. You might have guessed Secretary of State Blinken. But Mr. Yo, you win.

▶ 1:24:10It was made by the US Permanent Representative to the UN, Mike Waltz. When women thrive in societies around the world it makes us safer and more prosperous here at home. Gosh, how I wish we would listen to our Permanent Representative. Mr. Yo, since you were successful, do you agree with that statement? I do and I think UNFPA is providing absolutely essential services to make sure that women can deliver their babies safely around the world.

▶ 1:24:39I've held babies that were born 2 hours beforehand, safely delivered with the assistance of UNFPA. UNFPA provides critical voluntary family planning support as well as making sure that um uh women are get the assistance they need uh from uh being uh battered. So, I just want to thank you for raising UNFPA. It's a critically important agency. Thank you. And as I close and I thank you, Mr. Chairman I'm thinking of the King's speech yesterday.

▶ 1:25:06What was a glorious speech hitting so many topics with the sprinkled humor uh good wit but substance but he talked about our indispensable relationships around the world. Let us continue our indispensable relationships for the good of others. Thank you. I yield. Thank you so much, Ms. Dean. At this time we will recognize the gentleman from California, Mr. Issa for 5 minutes.

▶ 1:25:28Thanks. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. There's been a lot of good things said about our our ambassador to the United Nations uh Mike Waltz. So, let me just go through a few things and I think I'll start with Mr. Schneider probably Have we ever had year-over-year reductions in the number of employees at the UN the way we have in the last year? Not in the way we have the past year. This is unprecedented.

▶ 1:25:57Is it also unprecedented to to lower disproportionately the uh amount of people who are what you might call permanent employees, people who had roles in the UN but then somehow continue to be on the payroll for years They've they've set records both in terms of reductions in staff and in terms of the size of the uh uh the approved regular budget both in terms of percentage and in per terms of dollar amounts from last year to this year.

▶ 1:26:28Now, isn't it isn't it true that this is really just the tip of the iceberg, that there is considerably more to do, that in fact the bloated nature of the you never you never stop working for the UN when you work for the UN, including uh travel rights, educational benefits. It's not just a basic paycheck, is it? Um I I believe you're referring to compensation of UN employees. Correct.

▶ 1:26:55According to the International Civil Service Commission, which is the organization that sets UN salaries um the UN employees in New York uh earn um about 17% more than equivalent US civil servants in New York um but the comparison is a little bit off.

▶ 1:27:15If you look at the comparison between New York and Washington, D.C., it's about 29% higher and that extends the higher up the the pole in terms of um seniority you go inside the UN system.

▶ 1:27:26And since we're dealing with the bloated pay for a moment the individuals that typically enjoy that uh are they the best and the brightest uh from the best universities? Are these Cambridge graduates? Are these PhDs? Or are a major portion of them simply people from developing countries who knew somebody to be assigned to the UN and then stay? I think it's a little bit of both.

▶ 1:27:51Um often times you'll have people even um from uh whatever the country So, the UN system uh allocates staffing loosely based off of the level of contributions uh to the organization and also And you know, I've been on peacekeeping missions. I I see no evidence that they're loosely connected to those ratios. Well, uh the US is historically underrepresented inside the UN system uh and but China is as well uh right now because of that ratio in terms of contributions and in population.

▶ 1:28:22Um and so China's increase in UN staffing has been increasing over the past 25 years as its contributions have been increasing. Uh and but that's a concern because unlike say the United States or the UK or other countries China exerts enormous amount of influence over the actions and the independence of its citizens. Uh to give you an example, the former uh head of of Interpol was a Chinese citizen.

▶ 1:28:52Uh he did something that upset the Chinese Communist Party. He went back to Beijing and was arrested. We've never heard from him again. He was sentenced to multiple I I think multiple decades in prison um on charges of bribery. But the real offense was that he did something that China didn't want.

▶ 1:29:09So, the threat of Chinese um retribution on individuals and family members is stark inside the UN system and it allows China to influence the uh what their staff do inside the system in ways that we wouldn't do and shouldn't do. And I will say that having been to Switzerland and looked at a lot of the the other both scientific and health your statement about the ratio may be true in some areas.

▶ 1:29:37It certainly isn't true in in Switzerland where it looks like little Hong Kong to me just as an observer. Let me switch subjects. NGO monitoring, a lot has been said on both sides of the aisle here about the that didn't need to happen in Gaza where literally UN employees were active members, in some cases leaders, of Hamas.

▶ 1:30:03The they the reality is that one of the one of the points that the Ambassador Waltz is dealing with is the claim that under European law these NGOs that operate out of there, no matter who their employees, have no requirement to deliver any transparency for their vetting.

▶ 1:30:22When the Ambassador continues to hold back some portion of of our annual dues, although they have been paying it about the rate that it accrues, doesn't isn't that part of the leverage of what he's trying to achieve, a level of accountability for these NGOs not in fact employing the worst of the worst when they should be helping the country that they're in?

▶ 1:30:47Yeah, there's not a circumstance under which one single US dollar should be going to an NGO that members of terrorist organizations as designated by the United States. And we should be doing everything in our power to make sure that the vetting procedures are tied explicitly to US contributions both to the NGOs and to international

▶ 1:31:06Thank you and I my time is expired. I didn't give anyone else a chance, but I saw enough heads bobbing that I think this was an area of unity for the the committee today. I thank the chairman and yield back. Thank you so much Congressman Issa. At this time I'll turn it over to the gentleman from Illinois, Mr. Schneider, for 5 minutes.

▶ 1:31:25Thank you, Chairman Mills, and I share the concerns of many of my colleagues we've heard today about the UN, about the hypocrisy, about the ongoing farce of the UN repeatedly exhibits such as Iran being elected as a vice president of the nuclear nonproliferation review But the absurdity is nothing new and I think we all agree, on both sides of the aisle, on the need for reform. However, like Ranking Member Moskowitz, I don't think we should completely abandon the UN.

▶ 1:31:50I often quote former Secretary of State and Ambassador to the UN Madeleine Albright, who often said that for all of its flaws the world without the UN would be more dangerous than the world is with I appreciate some of the ideas of our witnesses have shared for reform today and I would hope that on this committee we can find ways to work together to advance those reforms. But let me turn to something we've talked a lot about today, which is UNRWA should have worked itself out of business decades ago. It should be put out of business now.

▶ 1:32:18There are other more responsible groups that can much better provide every single service that is assigned to UNRWA. UNRWA was created in 1949 following the war in which five Arab nations attacked and sought to destroy Israel after it declared its independence in 1948 under the authority of UN Resolution 181.

▶ 1:32:36In its more than 76 years since its creation UNRWA has created the concept of intergenerational refugees unique to the Palestinian people, marginalizing them across the Levant with no country treating them as fully fledged citizens. It has also prevented Palestinian leadership from taking responsibility for civil administration. I'd like to enter for the record a GAO report published earlier this year requested by Chairman Mast, Chairman Smith, and myself on the incendiary content of Palestinian Authority textbooks used by UNRWA.

▶ 1:33:05It finds that the State Department applying rules laid out in annual appropriations has had some success some of the time, but not Thank you. Um And as Mr. Kontorovich noted, the US cannot unilaterally abolish UNRWA.

▶ 1:33:19A bad agency we cannot abolish can, however, through careful legislation and thoughtful implementation have its damage limited and I hope we can work towards that Now let me return to where we started at the beginning of the hearing with Chairman Mast's remarks, where he was saying he was happy to see Ambassador Waltz working hard at the UN. I'd like to see Ambassador Waltz here in front of this committee. But our Ambassador to the UN isn't here nor any of the ambassadors from the US to UN agencies.

▶ 1:33:46With all due respect to our esteemed panel and I appreciate your testimony and your perspectives. I wish an issue of this import had drawn the people spending the funds authorized by this committee and appropriated by this Not just that, Chairman Mills, last month you held a hearing in this subcommittee regarding oversight of foreign assistance without anyone from the State Department and now in charge of foreign assistance after the Trump administration dismantled USAID.

▶ 1:34:10At the conclusion of that hearing I asked for the chairman's help getting State Department to provide information to the GAO and the USAID. And yet here we are again today with another oversight hearing with no witness from State, no one who can speak to what is actually happening. We, Congress, write the checks, but under this Republican majority we are not or we are apparently unable or more precisely unwilling to do the serious oversight.

▶ 1:34:35How can we have an oversight hearing on UN reform or any other issue without having government witnesses before us? For example, we should be asking the State Department about who are the government employees tracking the $2 billion contribution by the Trump administration to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs or OCHA, the UN body responsible for coordinating human response to crises. Moreover, accountability, oversight, and transparency teams should be in place before the funds are dispersed.

▶ 1:35:03To add injury to insult, insult to injury rather, the agreement compels OCHA to spend $2 billion in merely 6 months. Mr. Schiff, you're nodding. You know you're nodding. You know I'm coming to you. Congressional staff can't get a briefing from the Trump administration in timely manner. You wrote an article that I submit for the record, Trump administration should scrap its new UN deal. Perhaps you can help us understand what, if any, oversight, transparency, and accountability the American taxpayers have in this $2 billion agreement.

▶ 1:35:34Um to be perfectly frank, it's very weak. Uh the United States is providing that $2 billion to OCHA as you noted. There is no requirement for vetting in terms of US terrorist groups. They only will vet according to the UN consolidated list, which is in the UN Security Council. That does not include Hamas, it does not include Hezbollah, does not include other terrorist organizations as recognized by the United States.

▶ 1:35:59There's no uh restriction on the organization from dispersing funds to organizations that the United States has defunded, for instance UNRWA. Um in that you they have uh announced that they've got a handshake deal, but there's no real constraint within the memorandum of understanding that would prevent that from happening.

▶ 1:36:18and I think we've seen over and over with this administration handshake deals are as good as the paper they're not written on.

▶ 1:36:23Well, I I actually I actually think that the problem is the UN. There's no incentive on the UN to to not do this because the organization wants to fund these organizations and they also want to avoid the kinds of oversight and vetting requirements that the US traditionally would have with NGOs.

▶ 1:36:40And we need to be working with putting pressure on the administration to not have this arrangement be a model, but to improve upon it to make sure that the US is properly vetting, properly oversight, has proper oversight access to how this money is spent and how it's utilized to make sure that it's not used in a way that is counter to our interests. Thank you and that's why we need to have the officials in front of this committee so we can have those conversations and do that work here. Thank you for the extra time, Mr. Chairman.

▶ 1:37:08If I had more time I would ask the witnesses how we can reform the UN in a way that makes sense and advances US interests as we all share. I I thank the witnesses and I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Schneider. I again I'm I'm very blessed to be a part of this committee. This is one of the most bipartisan committees out of 20 committees in Congress. I agree with Mr. Schneider that we will need to go ahead and look at questioning what our government is doing and how they're going to reform certain things.

▶ 1:37:35But I think it's good to get expert testimony to prepare our questions and answers whenever we move before it. I will also just remind my friend and colleague, Mr. Schneider, that we will be having a full committee hearing with the UN with Ambassador That is coming forth and that will happen very very soon. Um also, if you'd like to ask that question in the second round, I'd be more than happy to allow you to do it. I think it's a very important question. With that, I'll turn it over to Ms. Jacobs from California for 5 minutes.

▶ 1:38:04Uh thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um and thank you for allowing me to wave on to this Um Mr. Yoo, I want to ask you today about an important topic. Um for those of you who don't know, I used to work at the United Nations. Um and I have seen for myself the important work that the UN does. I also know that, like any bureaucracy, it needs reforms to be more effective.

▶ 1:38:32Uh so I agree with the administration that reforms are needed even if we don't agree on which reforms, but I am concerned about how they're going about this and whether it will be effective. So, Mr. Yoo, you talked in um your testimony about the UN aid reforms and the progress that has been made so far. And you alluded to this, but I really want to zero in on what what what will actually make it effective and enduring.

▶ 1:38:58So, in your view, what factors will determine whether this agenda brings about real reforms that makes the UN more effective as a body and not just a panicked cost-cutting exercise? Uh thank you for the question, Congresswoman. Um, I would just um note that UN 80 is already been implemented at least in the first round with a significant budgetary and staffing cuts uh historic in nature, first time ever in the UN history.

▶ 1:39:24But I agree with you that it cannot stop there and the next two steps of uh UN 80 relate to fundamentally changing the nature of the mandates that the UN faces. They face over 3,000 mandates that they're supposed to work on. That's far too many. These are mandates given to it by UN member states. And how do you restructure the organization to make it more efficient, leaner, better ready for the next uh uh decade uh if not longer.

▶ 1:39:53Um, and those those are frankly even more difficult tasks because it requires UN member states to come together to make tough decisions. And this is where it's important that the US continue to be present, the US meet its financial obligations so that it has credibility to to put together the broad-based coalitions that are necessary to put together these reforms on organization and mandates that really can be enduring, that can really position the UN for success moving forward.

▶ 1:40:23But if we don't meet our financial obligations, other countries don't want to make reforms if they think we're still not going to pay our dues. And that's currently the state of affairs. Thank you. And And do you think the UN being in a liquidity crisis due to the US nonpayment is a useful motivator or do you think this will make reforms less likely to succeed? I think we need to find a balancing act here.

▶ 1:40:47We need to We are in a situation because of the financial crisis where uh other UN member states and senior UN officials are less willing to make the tough choices and compromises that are necessary on reform. I think we need to find a way to get the money that Congress appropriated full UN funding.

▶ 1:41:06We need to get that money flowing to the to New York to create some additional credibility and momentum behind this reform while recognizing that we're not we're very unlikely to be sending all the money at once. So, we need to find the right balance and at the moment I don't think we found it. But we're appreciative that Congress did provide near full funding for the UN. Okay.

▶ 1:41:28Um, and the Trump administration says it wants other countries to carry more of more of the load on international programs to reduce the burden on American taxpayers. I I think we can all agree that makes sense. But the administration's recent expansion of the global gag rule would require UN agencies receiving US funds to apply US policy to every other donor's contributions, which, you know, most UN agencies and other donors have stated that they would then just refuse US Um, which would

▶ 1:41:59make the administration's goal of burden sharing even harder to achieve. How would you predict this policy will impact our ability to increase other countries' contributions? Uh, this policy uh I would urge the administration to implement this policy carefully and with great flexibility.

▶ 1:42:17Um, if you have a situation where US policy on this basket of issues is going to apply to other countries' donations to the United Nations, it will basically discourage other countries from making investments in global health and development and security, and it will make it almost impossible for the UN to implement. Uh the UN officials have been quite clear in this front.

▶ 1:42:39It's not because they are disagree or agree with the policy, it's because uh the other major donor countries, particularly in Europe and Asia, don't agree with our views. Now, we may like that or not that they don't agree with our views, but they don't. And so we have to be careful as we think about mixing our funds and burden sharing that we don't put require requirements in that basically hobble our entire humanitarian effort.

▶ 1:43:02And And on that, my understanding is that the policy would require UN agencies to build entirely new compliance architecture um to you know, specific to US funding alone on top of existing structures repeated across dozens of agencies. So, wouldn't this actually be like risk creating duplicative bureaucracy that runs counter to the efficiency and cost reduction goals that I think we all want the UN to do? The UN has very strong oversight and investigative mechanisms.

▶ 1:43:31They're modeled on the US systems. We were largely created them. Uh they need improvement as always, but to create new oversight and investigative mechanisms uh is uh counterproductive and costly. I would just note on the very important $2 billion investments that the Trump administration has made in humanitarian, you can go on the website right now and check exactly where all that money is going, which organizations have received it, where the money is in terms of moving out the door, and how what countries it went to.

▶ 1:44:00So, uh really pleased that the that the OCHA office has really moved forward with transparency. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you so much, Mr. Jacobs. Uh Mr. Schneider, I'll give you the opportunity. Did you want to ask that Thank you. I'll I'll I'll actually take the chance uh if I can add the full five minutes to uh talk a little bit more about the UN as well. I spoke earlier and very harshly about UNRWA.

▶ 1:44:29very differently, we can talk about UNESCO. Uh its mission is a positive and important mission. International cooperation, education, science, culture, and information. Most Americans agree, I think, and would support that mission of supporting uh education, science, culture, and information. In the early 2010s, unfortunately, weak leadership led the agency to be politicized. Funding was a cut cut under the Obama administration, and the first Trump administration withdrew the United States entirely.

▶ 1:44:59With new leadership starting in 2017, things turned around. And I'd like to submit for the record a UNESCO report on anti-Semitism in Europe crucial for combating rising radicalization. No The second Trump administration is now again withdrawn from UNESCO effective at the end of the year. With a brand new director general, however, I hope the administration will work to rebuild bridges and reconsider its decision.

▶ 1:45:24Another positive example within the UN is the International Atomic Energy Association or administration rather, what I and others consider to be the rock star of UN agencies. Everyone knows it has to exist. It stops nuclear proliferation which could end life on this planet. It is run incredibly well. It has called out Iranian spying and kept the free world a step ahead of the world's leading state sponsor of terror.

▶ 1:45:50I'd like to enter for the record an IAEA report on the Iran nuclear program. No objection. And urge my colleagues in the administration to sit with it and appreciate how carefully they document Iran's undeclared nuclear activities and material. Lastly, what's so what's on a lot of people's minds we didn't really discuss today is the race underway for UN Secretary General. Some of the UN was a bad idea. Much of it was a great idea.

▶ 1:46:20But the worst of the UN will be better with better leadership, and the best will be greater still. To the witnesses, I'd like each to answer, all things considered, would the UN be better with better leadership? And second, if there is a positive result in the Secretary General's race, should the administration be more open to considering and resuming membership in and funding to various UN bodies? I'll start with uh Mr. Shafer. Um, I think every organization is better with better leadership.

▶ 1:46:47Um, I You mentioned uh the IAEA. You mentioned um uh some other organizations. Some of the ones that I think are important that are overlooked are the International Telecommunication Union, the International Civil Aviation Organization. Uh these are organizations that set standards and set uh regular processes for, for instance, safe air flight. These are things that the UN does that most people don't understand that it does, and it's very valuable um to the American people at large.

▶ 1:47:15Uh the ITU, for instance, sets satellite slots in orbit so that they don't run into each other, obviously a very positive thing to have. So, there are parts of the organization that are very useful and very helpful to have and the US needs to maintain support and participation in. But other parts of the UN system are not valuable, and we shouldn't be uh shy about leaving them. In fact, the Clinton administration back in the 1990s left uh UNIDO, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. It left the World Tourism Organization.

▶ 1:47:45We've never felt any real urgency to get back into those organizations because, frankly, they don't contribute much to US interests. So, we shouldn't look at the UN system as a monolith. We need to look at it in discrete parts under and try to work through those parts and maintain influence in those parts that are most valuable. Yep. Let me jump to the other side of the panel and uh Mr. Yao. Great. Thank you for the Thank you for the question, Congressman. Um, I think in the as you noted, the race for Secretary General's happening as we speak. Um, and uh it will start the new SG will start next year.

▶ 1:48:15Um, I think we need a good manager uh uh who knows how to run a large organization, and we need a good diplomat who can help to bring potentially warring parties together to avoid conflict because once the conflict begins, when we think about the humanitarian cost, the peacekeeping cost, it's far more expensive. So, we need a diplomat who can make sure that he or she can avoid conflict um before all the costs and the human life toll kick in.

▶ 1:48:42Um, and uh I would just emphasize as relates to the SG, the US has a veto. So, there's not one SG that is going to be inaugurated next year without US active support.

▶ 1:48:52Absolutely. And Mr. Castro which is out of time, I'll give you the last word. Thanks. UNESCO is a perfect example of the difficulty of reform. America has now rejoined three times, quit twice, the first time under Ronald Reagan. George Bush rejoined cuz it was supposed to, you know, they said, we have a new director, we're reformed, and then they went and they, you know, basically said Jerusalem has no link uh to the Jewish people. We've seen that happen yet again, right?

▶ 1:49:16When they had their last meeting the year before uh President Trump quit again, three out of 11 subject areas were focused on uh on Israel. They then recognized Jericho uh as a Palestinian site with no connection to Jewish or uh Christian uh history. I like culture and I like uh science as much as the next person, but it's not clear that those uh inchoate values really require a UN agency to to advance them.

▶ 1:49:43So, and I apologize, my time is up, so I yield back. Thank you, Mr. Schneider. I want to thank the witnesses for their valuable testimony and the members for their questions. Just answer to the question uh about the Secretary-General. I do think the Secretary-General sets a tone, and this is a very important matter. Two of the current candidates for Secretary-General, Michelle Bachelet and and uh Ms.

▶ 1:50:06Greenspan, uh both abused their position as uh UN officials to promote abortion and to oppose pro-life legislation in countries, and I think it's fundamentally important that the US exercise veto to um against these two candidates. It's fundamentally important that UN officials do not interfere in internal political debates about abortion or other controversial social policies, and uh it should start at the top. Thank you.

▶ 1:50:33Well, again, as we talked about with EU regulatory policies, things like this, they couldn't even define what a woman is, and they actually applauded and cheered for that. So, I don't know that they're the right person to be on anything that has to do with protecting women's health, women's rights, or otherwise.

▶ 1:50:46I think the same goes for China when it comes to human rights violations, whenever they're one of the most egregious and what they've done to the Uyghurs, essentially put them in concentration camps, and what a hypocrisy once again for everyone who is watching and listening, for Iran to be the vice president of the nuclear non-proliferation, when if they had a nuclear weapon, their main intent would be kill the West and kill as many as they can. They've already done it over 35, we're now estimating 45,000 innocent Iranians. And so, uh that needs to happen.

▶ 1:51:14I want to thank our witnesses uh for all your valuable testimony. Uh the members of the subcommittee may have additional questions for the witnesses, and we will ask you to respond to these in writing. Pursuant to committee rules, all members may have 5 days to submit statements, questions, and extraneous materials for the record, subject to length limitations. Without objection, the committee stands adjourned.

Title

Reforming US funding, staffing, and accountability at the United Nations

Purpose

The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Intelligence held this hearing to examine recent controversies at the United Nations — including Iran's placement on nonproliferation and human rights bodies — and to assess the Trump administration's push for UN budget cuts, staffing reductions, and reform under Ambassador Mike Waltz. Witnesses from Heritage Foundation, the Center for Family and Human Rights, American Enterprise Institute, and the UN Foundation debated whether US financial leverage, withdrawal from agencies, or continued engagement is the best path to reform. Begins at▶ 0:05:07

Who spoke

• Chairman Mast (R-FL)▶ 0:05:07: Opened by criticizing Iran's selection to the nuclear non-proliferation board▶ 0:06:41 and to the ECOSOC committee shaping human rights/counterterrorism policy▶ 0:08:34; blasted the UN's failed Haiti peacekeeping mission where the US paid roughly $1 million per Kenyan peacekeeper for a mission that failed▶ 0:11:08; later chaired Q&A and gave closing remarks opposing Michelle Bachelet and Ms. Greenspan for Secretary-General over abortion advocacy▶ 1:50:06.

• Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Ranking Member▶ 0:14:42: Disagreed with withdrawing from the UN, arguing that wherever the US withdraws, China fills the vacuum with money and influence▶ 0:15:03; noted China pays for interns who later become staff, giving it outsized influence▶ 0:18:33; cited Francesca Albanese's anti-Semitic rhetoric and UN double standards on Israel vs. Russia/Ukraine, Sudan, and Iran▶ 0:19:34; later questioned whether a US pullout could shift the UN to Beijing▶ 0:58:19.

• Chairman Brian Mast (self-recognized, full opening)▶ 0:22:15: Cited the UN's $3.7 billion budget and 193 member states as bloated and ineffective▶ 0:23:00; listed Trump-brokered peace deals (Armenia-Azerbaijan, Cambodia-Thailand, etc.) achieved without UN peacekeeping funds▶ 0:23:28; noted the UN employed people linked to the October 7 attacks▶ 0:25:20.

• Mr. Brett Schaefer, American Enterprise Institute▶ 0:26:56: Said the US provided ~$147 billion to international organizations from 2015–2024, over $14 billion (30%+) in 2024 alone▶ 0:27:20; argued financial pressure has driven UN80 reform and closure of the failed UNIFIL mission in Lebanon▶ 0:28:57; on UNRWA, compared its ~$800-per-refugee cost to UNHCR's ~$40▶ 0:51:19; flagged the $2 billion OCHA deal as lacking real US vetting oversight▶ 1:05:18.

• Mr. Eugene Kontorovich, Heritage Foundation / Advancing American Freedom▶ 0:31:15: Proposed three reform tools — Security Council vetoes to end peacekeeping missions like UNIFIL, UNDOF, and MONUSCO/MINUSCA (which account for most peacekeeper sex-abuse claims)▶ 0:34:22▶ 0:35:18; exiting specialized agencies like the International Organization for Migration▶ 0:36:15; and requiring congressional reauthorization for re-entry into agencies like UNESCO▶ 0:36:39; later backed the Cruz LIAB Act to let terrorism victims sue international organizations▶ 1:06:06.

• Mr. Stefano Gennarini, Center for Family and Human Rights▶ 0:37:35: Argued UN gender and DEI policy has infected US law despite never being defined▶ 0:38:26; said voluntary contributions now make up 70% of the UN budget, with the EU providing nearly 40% and driving UN social policy▶ 0:40:23; said the EU blocked Trump administration reforms on gender definitions and abortion▶ 0:41:55.

• Mr. Peter Yeo, UN Foundation / Better World Campaign▶ 0:43:14: Clarified Iran's nonproliferation appointment was made by non-aligned member states, not UN officials▶ 0:43:45; said the US now owes over $2 billion to the UN regular budget, an unprecedented gap threatening a "financial collapse"▶ 0:46:05; cited a 20% UN headquarters staffing cut (2,900 posts)▶ 0:46:54; said total US UN contributions are less than Rhode Island's yearly budget▶ 0:49:06; later described WFP food shortages in Sudan and deaths in Al Fasher tied to funding cuts▶ 1:10:23.

• Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH)▶ 0:14:35: Questioned the value proposition of UN spending to Ohio constituents▶ 0:15:07; endorsed his UN Voting Accountability Act tying aid to countries voting with the US at least 50% of the time▶ 0:16:45.

• Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL)▶ 1:07:34: Noted the US has provided roughly 22% of the UN regular budget and 27% of peacekeeping funds historically, with outstanding balances of $2B (regular) and $2.2B (peacekeeping) as of March 2026▶ 0:08:03; asked Yeo about humanitarian impacts of cuts▶ 1:09:57.

• Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA)▶ 1:19:38: Described visiting UNFPA-supported programs in Ghana and Togo▶ 1:20:57; clarified UNFPA does not provide abortions and displayed an emergency birth kit used to reduce maternal mortality▶ 1:22:10; had witnesses guess that Ambassador Mike Waltz said "when women thrive... it makes us safer and more prosperous here at home"▶ 1:23:43.

• Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA)▶ 1:25:28: Established that UN staffing/budget cuts were unprecedented▶ 0:25:57; noted UN salaries in New York run about 17-29% above equivalent US federal pay▶ 1:26:55; raised China's outsized influence via staffing tied to contributions, citing the imprisoned former Interpol chief▶ 1:28:22.

• Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL)▶ 1:31:25: Argued UNRWA should be put out of business, citing intergenerational refugee status unique to Palestinians since 1949▶ 1:32:18; submitted a GAO report on incendiary content in Palestinian Authority textbooks▶ 1:33:05; criticized the absence of State Department witnesses at this and a prior oversight hearing▶ 1:33:46; questioned Schaefer on the $2 billion OCHA deal's weak vetting requirements▶ 1:35:03; later praised the IAEA as the UN's "rock star" agency▶ 1:45:24 and criticized UNESCO's politicization on Israel▶ 1:48:52.

• Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA)▶ 1:38:04: A former UN employee, pressed Yeo on what would make UN80 reforms enduring rather than a "panicked cost-cutting exercise"▶ 1:38:58; questioned the administration's global gag rule expansion, warning it could deter other donors from contributing▶ 1:41:28.

• Rep. Jim Baird (R-IN) [1:00:21... correction 1:01:21]: Cited UNRWA employment of Hamas members involved in October 7 and UNIFIL's shootdown of an Israeli surveillance drone▶ 1:02:13; asked witnesses how to improve US oversight of UN personnel vetting▶ 1:02:34.

Key moments

• Iran was selected this week to a seat on the nuclear non-proliferation treaty review board and previously to an ECOSOC committee on human rights and counterterrorism; Yeo clarified the appointment was made by non-aligned member states, not UN officials, and urged directing anger at sponsoring embassies rather than the UN Secretariat▶ 0:06:41▶ 0:43:45.

• Mast said the US spent roughly $1 million per Kenyan peacekeeper (~$1 billion for 1,000 troops) on a failed Haiti mission that left the country worse off, while the Haitian government now separately pays Erik Prince's company for security▶ 0:10:40▶ 0:11:36; Yeo noted the Haiti mission was not run by the UN▶ 0:44:14.

• Schaefer testified US contributions from 2015-2024 totaled ~$147 billion, exceeding the combined contributions of Germany, the UK, China, and Japan▶ 0:27:20▶ 0:27:47.

• Yeo disclosed the US now owes over $2 billion to the UN's regular budget — an unprecedented gap in US history — which the Secretary-General has warned could trigger financial collapse▶ 0:46:05▶ 0:46:29.

• Schaefer compared UNRWA's roughly $800-per-refugee cost to UNHCR's roughly $40 per refugee for a much larger 120-million-person caseload▶ 0:51:19▶ 0:51:31.

• Schaefer detailed the $2 billion US-OCHA agreement requiring funds be spent within six months with no US vetting beyond the UN Security Council's consolidated terrorist list, which excludes Hamas and Hezbollah▶ 1:04:50▶ 1:05:18.

• Moskowitz and Kontorovich sparred over a hypothetical US withdrawal moving UN headquarters to Beijing; Kontorovich argued the UN "without the United States is not the same" prize for China and cautioned against ruling out withdrawal as a negotiating tool▶ 0:58:49▶ 0:59:36.

• Gennarini said over 70% of UN mandates carry a gender component and that the EU, providing nearly 40% of voluntary UN funding, blocked Trump administration proposals defining gender as only men and women▶ 0:38:57▶ 0:41:55.

• Dean displayed a UNFPA emergency birth kit and stated the agency does not fund abortions, countering "misinformation" about the program amid funding cuts▶ 1:22:10▶ 1:23:11.

• Kontorovich and Davidson proposed tying US funding/foreign aid directly to countries' UN voting alignment (modeled on the EU's approach), noting the US currently loses roughly 90% of General Assembly votes▶ 1:17:12▶ 1:17:38.

Metadata

Committee	House Foreign Affairs Oversight and Intelligence Subcommittee
Chamber / Congress	House · 119th Congress
Date	April 29, 2026
Type	Hearing
Witnesses	Mr. Eugene Kontorovich — Senior Research Fellow, Heritage Foundation Mr. Stefano Gennarini — Vice President for Legal Studies, Center for Family and Human Rights Mr. Brett Schaefer — Senior Fellow, American Enterprise Institute Mr. Peter Yeo — Senior Vice President, UN Foundation, President, the Better World Campaign Mr. Eugene Kontorovich — Senior Legal Fellow, Advancing American Freedom Mr. Peter Yeo — President, the Better World Campaign Mr. Peter Yeo — President, The Better World Campaign
Video	youtube
Transcript	255 caption blocks · 17,747 words · 1:51:36 runtime
Event	Congress.gov 119214