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To eliminate waste and unaccountable spending, President-elect Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will immediately make available a $20 billion annual savings plan that will divert U.S. taxpayer dollars to the United Nations. It will be.
Each year, the United States provides nearly a quarter of the United Nations' total costs, including more than $3 billion in assessed or mandatory “regular” funding and $10 billion to $150 billion in each of the past two years. Includes discretionary contributions that vary between $1 billion. The total amount can be even higher if in-kind support services are taken into account. U.N. demands and U.S. subsidies have ballooned, with U.S. payments nearly doubling in the past decade.
There should be a wake-up call for Americans about how their money is being spent and where it's going.
Trump administration could lead to budget cuts and change in UN leadership
Here are some rabbit holes your money can go down. U.S. taxpayers pay UN tax-free salaries. The United Nations Lounge is set up for sports viewing and offers food and drinks at bargain prices. Media campaigns and other celebrations celebrating the International Day of Neutrality and International Banking Day, devised by Russia, Afghanistan and their friends.
US dollars to peacekeepers include the Blue Helmets of Southern Lebanon (UNIFIL), which is busy monitoring Hezbollah's rearmament, building terrorist tunnels, positioning itself among Lebanese civilians and firing on Israelis. It is.
Rising expenses for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, coming out of your wallet, include staffing and support for China's “independent experts” on “the international financial obligations of States regarding the full enjoyment of all human rights” It is. He is an expert on a “democratic and fair international order,'' who advocated for the International Criminal Court to address America's crimes against humanity, and an “expert'' on “international solidarity,'' which was created at Cuba's request.
Former UN officials launch 'Doge UN' to highlight inefficiencies in government agencies
Congress has long been skeptical about the United Nations' use of U.S. funds, going so far as to require an annual report on “U.S. participation in the United Nations.'' The most recent report under the Biden administration was issued in March 2024 and covered 2022. Its surprising conclusion is:
“It is becoming increasingly difficult for the United States to identify cost reductions for the United Nations given the increasing demands placed on it by United Nations member states.”
United Nations Headquarters Building in New York City. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
DOGE can respond to this apparent head-scratching with due financial oversight in place. The UN budget, which encompasses everything from well over 100,000 long-term staff, administrative costs, peacekeeping operations, and a wide range of agencies and subsidiary bodies, intentionally provides the transparency needed to end abuse and corruption. is lacking.
The General Assembly, for example, is unhappy that it violates its own basic rule that no new activities are approved unless the costs are calculated and presented before a vote.
Signing now and squeezing member states later is a common practice, as is harnessing unused resources in one corner to satisfy the unmet desires of another.
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At the heart of the UN's financial structure is the bad idea that the United States must pay a price for the abhorrent acts it voted against. Fans call it burden sharing. We pay for things we don't like, and other countries help us with our priorities. The truth is, the end product will be a positive for both American interests and taxpayer pocketbooks.
A 2005 United Nations task force created during the George W. I did it. After all, the slogan “reform” in the United Nations world was just a euphemism for “keep going” until someone notices.
Congress has also devised other formulas for withholding funds from the United Nations, such as denying funding to a small list of UN projects dedicated to destroying the state of Israel. But the United Nations would invent more such projects, and Congress would add them to the withholding list, making it difficult, if any, to confront the fundamental moral corruption exemplified by the United Nations' systematic demonization of Israel. It also took many years.
DOGE creates an opportunity to clean the house.
They can expect at least two rejectionist camps to exist. Democrats who lash out at the false idea that multilateralism begins and ends at the United Nations, and UN diplomats drinking and dining in their neighborhoods, whether they're entertaining the entourages of terrorists or criminal masterminds. New Yorkers who think they're making money by doing things and hanging out. Not only should the material and spiritual benefits of developing a prime location in midtown Manhattan in other ways be considered for local residents, but other regions of the country also deserve to be heard. be.
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A long-awaited tally comparing U.S. spending to the United Nations and U.S. needs is not an end to American generosity and compassion across borders. It is a call to protect the American goose that lays the golden egg from the greedy and dangerous United Nations.
The Biden administration believed it would be difficult to find reserves of American funds to fill the UN coffers. You can configure which DOGE responds: Challenge accepted.
Anne Hertzberg is a general counsel and UN representative for NGO Monitor.
