Biden Introduces Bill to Remove Peacekeeping Cap

Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) Chair Joe Biden (D- DE) introduced S. 392 to “ensure payment of assessments for United Nations peacekeeping operations for the 2005 through 2008 time period.” The legislation authorizes Congress to pay up to 27.1% of the U.N.’s peacekeeping bill. It is a significant step towards permanently lifting a 25% “cap” imposed on U.S. contributions to U.N. peacekeeping in 1994. The cap currently produces over $100 million per year in new U.S. arrears to the U.N. Recently, Richard Lugar of Indiana, the ranking Republican on SFRC as well as Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) has cosponsored the legislation. Committee action is expected later this month.

In a statement introducing the legislation Biden noted that at “a time when our government continues to seek important reforms at the United Nations, it is a mistake for us to continue to fall short on our dues. Rather than encourage reform, it may give other countries an excuse to avoid it. How can we, in good faith, fail to pay our bills while at the same time push the U.N. to get its financial house in order?”

History of the “Cap”

In 1994, Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) introduced legislation that prohibited the U.S. from contributing more than 25% of the total funds for any U.N. peacekeeping operation. This legislation was incorporated in the State Department authorization bill (P.L. 103-236), signed later that year by President Clinton. Since the U.S. was assessed at almost 31% for U.N. peacekeeping missions through December 2000, the cap contributed significantly to the amount of U.S. debt to the UN. The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, including the U.S. , pay a premium for the peacekeeping budget because of their special role in creating peacekeeping missions and their ability to veto any mission.

On December 23, 2000, the U.N. General Assembly approved new scales of assessment for both the regular and peacekeeping budgets, reducing the U.S. share for both. The U.S. assessment for the U.N. regular budget went from 25% to 22%, and from nearly 31% to 27% for the U.N. peacekeeping budget. Dues assessments are periodically renegotiated at the United Nations. The current U.S. assessment is 26.1% and is expect to drop below 26% later this year.

Last update May 4, 2007