I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2496 
To prohibit assessed or voluntary contributions to the United Nations, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 17, 2017 
Mr. FRANKS of Arizona introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
A BILL 
To prohibit assessed or voluntary contributions to the United 
Nations, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Defunding the Corrupt 
and Incompetent United Nations Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The United States pays far more than any 
other nation for United Nations operations, which 
are divided into three program baskets: regular 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
budget, peacekeeping budget, and specialized pro-
grams such as developmental and disaster assist-
ance. 
(2) Despite the United States paying an overly 
large share of the budget, United Nations treaties 
are often in opposition to the interests of the United 
States, so the United States is effectively paying 
others to undermine our foreign policy. 
(3) There also is a global lack of accountability 
coupled with incompetence at the United Nations, 
with terrible crimes and genocides happening under 
the watch of the United Nations. 
(4) Finally, a constant and disproportionate use 
of United Nations time and money is dedicated to 
persecuting Israel, the only democracy in the Middle 
East. 
(5) For the reasons specified in paragraphs (1) 
through (4), which are further detailed in sub-
sections (b) through (e), the United States will no 
longer provide funds to this corrupt and incompetent 
body unless very significant changes are made imme-
diately. 
(b) 
UNFAIR
BUDGET
BURDEN
AND 
UNACCOUNTABILITY.—Congress finds the following: 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
(1) The United States was assessed for con-
tributions to the regular United Nations budget and 
the United Nations peacekeeping budget totaling ap-
proximately $3,000,000,000 of an approximately 
$11,000,000,000 combined United Nations budget 
for those purposes in 2016. 
(2) At under five percent of the world popu-
lation, 22 percent of the world nominal Gross Do-
mestic Product (GDP) but 16.1 percent of world 
GDP by purchasing power parity, the United States 
was assessed to contribute 22 percent of the regular 
United Nations budget in 2016. 
(3) This is a higher regular assessment than 
the 176 least assessed United Nations member 
states combined. 
(4) A majority of United Nations member 
states will be assessed total contributions of less 
than $1,000,000 a year for the United Nations reg-
ular and peacekeeping budgets combined. The least 
assessed member states historically pay a net several 
thousand dollars to the United Nations after col-
lecting lavish travel subsidies from the United Na-
tions. 
(5) The 113 members of the Non-Aligned 
Movement, which frequently votes against United 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
States and democratic proposals and interests, were 
collectively assessed approximately $559,000,000 of 
United Nations regular and peacekeeping budgets in 
2016. 
(6) The 56 countries of the Organization of Is-
lamic Cooperation (OIC), including 10 of the world’s 
top 20 oil producing countries, together were as-
sessed approximately $406,000,000 to the regular 
and peacekeeping budgets of the United Nations in 
2016. These countries also frequently vote against 
United States and democratic proposals and inter-
ests. 
(7) The other four permanent members of the 
United Nations Security Council—the Russian Fed-
eration, the People’s Republic of China, the United 
Kingdom, and France—were assessed a combined 
$2,734,000,000 in 2016 to the United Nations, com-
pared to the United States $2,959,000,000 assess-
ment for the United Nations regular budget and 
United Nations peacekeeping budget. 
(8) The United Nations requires two-thirds of 
member states to approve the United Nations reg-
ular budget but does not have a commonsense rule 
to require that budgets be approved by member 
states that contribute two-thirds of the money. This 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
means member states that make minimal contribu-
tions can approve the regular budget over the objec-
tion of the United States and other major contribu-
tors. 
(9) However, the United States also is assessed 
28.4691 percent of the United Nations peacekeeping 
budget for 2017 despite the bipartisan Foreign Rela-
tions Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1994 and 
1995 (Public Law 103–236; enacted April 30, 
1994), which prohibits the United States from mak-
ing contributions that exceed 25 percent of the 
peacekeeping budget. Currently, the difference be-
tween 25 percent and the 28.4691 percent assessed 
levels amounts to $275,000,000. 
(10) This is a higher peacekeeping budget as-
sessment than the 185 least assessed United Na-
tions member states combined. 
(11) In addition, the United States Government 
separately contributes more than $5,000,000,000 
per year for other United Nations programs. There 
is no comprehensive report to Congress about these 
United Nations agency requirements. The last com-
prehensive report was for fiscal year 2010. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
(c) UNITED NATIONS TREATIES THAT ARE AGAINST 
UNITED STATES INTERESTS.—Congress finds the fol-
lowing: 
(1) Ratification of the United Nations Conven-
tion on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) would sub-
ject the United States to internationally based envi-
ronmental mandates and place new financial man-
dates on United States businesses, and therefore is 
not in the interests of the United States. 
(2) The recent effort under the auspices of the 
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate 
Change (UNFCCC) to reestablish an international 
regulation regime to end global warming, which 
would heavily target fossil fuels, is against United 
States interests. 
(3) Ratification of the Arms Trade Treaty, 
which would closely regulate global arms trade ex-
ports and impose regulations on United States gun 
manufacturers, is not in the interests of the United 
States. 
(d) GLOBAL LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AND INCOM-
PETENCE.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) In the civil war in Sri Lanka from 1983 to 
2009, the United Nations did not investigate claims 
of war crimes and made no attempt to protect the 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
civilian population, resulting in 6,500 individuals 
being murdered inside supposed United Nations 
‘‘safe zones’’. 
(2) The United Nations did not acknowledge 
the replacement government of Cambodia after Pol 
Pot and the Khmer Rouge until 1994, after Paul 
Pot’s communist authorities murdered more than 
2,500,000 Cambodians, or 33 percent of the popu-
lation. 
(3) In 1994, after 10 Belgian peacekeepers 
were murdered in Rwanda, United Nations troops 
directly abandoned hundreds of Tutsis who were 
murdered by Hutus, and in the process abandoned 
the country to a genocide that left approximately 
1,000,000 individuals dead, or nearly 20 percent of 
the population. 
(4) After several United States and Pakistani 
troops were killed in 1993, the United Nations with-
drew all peacekeeping troops from Somalia in 1995. 
(5) In 1995, United Nations peacekeepers in 
northeastern Bosnia failed to prevent Serbs from 
murdering 8,000 men and boys in Srebrenica. 
(6) From 2003 to 2005 the United Nations did 
not enter Sudan despite organized attacks on popu-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
lated villages by Janjaweed militant groups. In 2010 
an estimated 300,000 Sudanese civilians were killed. 
(7) United Nations peacekeeping audits have 
revealed mismanagement, fraud, and corruption in 
procurement. 
(8) United Nations peacekeepers were the 
source of the cholera outbreak in Haiti beginning in 
2010 that left more than 8,000 individuals dead and 
600,000 seriously sickened. 
(9) United Nations agencies are in the bottom 
half of effectiveness among bilateral, multilateral, 
and United Nations aid agencies based on trans-
parency, specialization, selectivity, ineffective aid 
channels, and overhead cost (‘‘Rhetoric versus Re-
ality: The Best and Worst of Aid Agency Practices’’, 
William Easterly and Claudia R. Williamson). 
(10) The United Nations Security Council at-
tempted to invoke sanctions under chapter VII of 
the Charter of the United Nations to prevent geno-
cide in the recent civil war in Syria, but the Russian 
Federation and the People’s Republic of China pre-
vented action by the United Nations, resulting in 
more than 60,000 civilian deaths and thousands of 
other civilians displaced. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
(11) A United Nations study found that United 
Nations peacekeeping missions routinely avoid using 
force to protect civilians who are under attack, inter-
vening in only 20 percent of cases despite being au-
thorized to do so by the United Nations Security 
Council (‘‘United Nations General Assembly, Eval-
uation of the Implementation and Results of Protec-
tion of Civilians Mandates in United Nations Peace-
keeping Operations, No. A/68/787’’, Reuters, May 7, 
2014). 
(12) United Nations peacekeepers continue to 
abuse the unprotected populations they are supposed 
to be helping (Code Blue, ‘‘A Practical Plan to End 
Impunity for Peacekeeper Sexual Abuse’’, October 
13, 2016). 
(13) United Nations peacekeepers in South 
Sudan in 2016 failed to protect civilians from mur-
der and rape even within sight of United Nations 
soldiers or inside supposedly protected safe zones. 
(e) CONSTANT
AND DISPROPORTIONATE USE
OF 
UNITED
NATIONS
TIME
AND
MONEY
TO
HARASS 
ISRAEL.—Congress finds the following: 
(1) The United Nations is hostile to our closest 
ally in the Middle East, Israel, which is also the 
most developed democracy in that region. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
(2) The United Nations Security Council passed 
United Nations Security Council Resolution 2324 on 
December 23, 2016, to condemn Israeli settlements, 
while the Obama administration backstabbed Israel 
by abstaining instead of vetoing this dangerous reso-
lution. As Senator Charles Schumer said, ‘‘Whatever 
one’s views are on settlements, anyone who cares 
about the future of Israel and peace in the region 
knows that the United Nations, with its one-sided-
ness, is exactly the wrong forum to bring about 
peace.’’. 
(3) The United Nations voted in 2012 to grant 
the Palestinian Authority ‘‘non-member state’’ per-
manent observer status. 
(4) United Nations Human Rights Council 
(UNHRC) also acts contrary to United States inter-
ests. For example, in the ten years of June 2006 
through June 2016, when the UNHRC acts to con-
demn a specific country, most of the time it con-
demns Israel. That is to say, the UNHRC singles 
Israel out for solitary condemnation more than all 
the other countries of the world put together. 
(5) The UNHRC has 10 permanent agenda 
items, one of which (Agenda Item 7, ‘‘Human 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00010
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
Rights Situation in Palestine and Other Occupied 
Arab Territories’’) is criticism of Israel. 
(6) The United Nations Relief and Works 
Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East 
(UNRWA), contrary to the practice of the United 
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, defines 
Palestinian ‘‘refugee’’ status as a hereditary entitle-
ment over generations. It also failed to stop Hamas 
from stockpiling missiles in schools, and did not im-
mediately report this violation of civilian rights and 
standard of conflict to the United Nations Security 
Council. 
(7) The United Nations Durban Declaration of 
the World Conference Against Racism in 2001 sin-
gled out only Israel for condemnation for racist poli-
cies, of all the countries in the world. 
(8) Twenty Arab countries use the United Na-
tions to vote against United States interests most of 
the time but collect annual foreign assistance from 
the United States. For example, in 2017 Egypt is 
slated to receive $1,500,000,000 in assistance, Jor-
dan $1,000,000,000 and Iraq $500,000,000. These 
figures do not include all amounts of United States 
military assistance given in direct funding, in-kind 
grants, and excess defense equipment. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00011
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
(9) The Palestinian Authority also receives over 
$350,000,000 per year from the United States in 
humanitarian assistance that the Palestinian Au-
thority routinely uses to inspire hate in schools, 
among other purposes. 
(10) All this United Nations anti-Israel activity 
goes on despite Israel being the only democracy in 
the Middle East, giving citizenship to many Arab 
citizens, holding open elections and an independent 
judiciary, sponsoring a vibrant civil society, and al-
lowing freedom for press, women, religious beliefs, 
nongovernmental organizations, and gay lifestyles. 
(11) Israel also has traded land for peace but 
Hamas continues to be dedicated to the destruction 
of Israel. When Israel withdrew from Gaza, the ter-
ritory fell under the control of Hamas, which 
launched regular rocket and terror attacks on Israel 
from Gaza. 
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON ASSESSED AND VOLUNTARY CON-
TRIBUTIONS TO THE UNITED NATIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—No funds may be obligated or ex-
pended to provide assessed or voluntary contributions to 
the United Nations, the United Nations system, or United 
Nations-affiliated agencies during the period beginning on 
the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on the 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00012
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
date on which the President certifies to Congress that the 
requirements and criteria described in subsection (b) are 
met. 
(b) REQUIREMENTS AND CRITERIA DESCRIBED.— 
The requirements and criteria described in this subsection 
are the following: 
(1) The United Nations adopts a rule providing 
that for the United Nations regular budget to be ap-
proved, not only must the currently required two- 
thirds of member states approve, but also a com-
bination of member states whose assessed contribu-
tions make up at least 67 percent of the regular 
budget must approve. 
(2) The Director of the Office of Management 
and Budget submits to Congress a report on all 
United States assessed and voluntary contributions 
to the United Nations system. 
(3) The Secretary of State submits to Congress 
a report providing a comprehensive analysis of 
United States interests supported by United States 
memberships in international organizations, United 
States contributions to these organizations, and 
whether these interests could be achieved by other 
means. This report additionally shall assess which 
United Nations organizations contain good or poor 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00013
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
value for their money, and recommending which if 
any of such organization merits United States sup-
port, and which do not merit United States support. 
(4) The Office of Inspector General of the De-
partment of State establishes an office responsible 
for inspecting and auditing the use of United States 
contributions to international organizations. 
(5) The Secretary-General of the United Na-
tions and the heads of other international organiza-
tions described in paragraph (4) provide assurances 
to the United States Government that such organi-
zations will cooperate with the Department of State 
office established pursuant to paragraph (4). 
(6) The Secretary of State submits to Congress 
an evaluation of long-running United Nations peace-
keeping missions to ascertain which such missions 
are needed and which such missions and participants 
are advancing United States and democratic ideals 
and interests. 
(7) The United Nations revises its pay struc-
ture so that salaries do not exceed equivalent United 
States civil service salaries. 
(8) The United Nations reinstates and conducts 
ongoing, annual, robust reviews of its own mandates 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00014
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
to determine which such mandates are outmoded 
and should be eliminated or terminated. 
(9) The United Nations reinstates its Procure-
ment Task Force that successfully reviewed large 
scale fraud in the $600,000,000 Iraqi oil for food 
program but was subsequently shut down. 
(10) The United Nations adopts reforms to 
make the United Nations Office of Internal Over-
sight Services (OIOS) and ethics office truly inde-
pendent, and strengthens whistleblower protections. 
(11) The United Nations demonstrates its 
peacekeepers are proactively protecting civilians, and 
adopts changes to insure that troop contributing 
countries investigate and punish those found to have 
not followed their duties and/or to have committed 
crimes. 
SEC. 4. FURTHER LIMITATION ON ASSESSED AND PEACE-
KEEPING CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE UNITED 
NATIONS. 
Beginning on the day after the date on which the 
President certifies to Congress that the requirements and 
criteria described in section 3(b) are met— 
(1) funds obligated or expended to provide as-
sessed contributions to the United Nations regular 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00015
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS
budget may not exceed 18 percent of the total as-
sessed contributions to such budget; and 
(2) funds obligated or expended to provide as-
sessed contributions to the United Nations peace-
keeping budget may not exceed 25 percent of the 
total contributions to such budget. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
04:38 May 23, 2017
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00016
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H2496.IH
H2496
rfrederick on DSK30NT082PROD with BILLS