US lawmaker presses UN on renovations

By Irwin Arieff
June 12, 2006
Reuters
Original Source: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-06-13T024043Z_01_N04276402_RTRUKOC_0_US-UN-USA.xml&archived=False

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.S. lawmaker encouraged the United Nations on Monday to be more open about plans to renovate its New York headquarters, but said Congress did not want to cut U.S. dues payments as leverage to force through U.N. management reforms.
That's not a threat that we are going to use, Sen. Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican and chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, said when asked if U.S. funding should be trimmed.
His subcommittee plans June 20 hearings on the renovation plan and has invited U.S. Ambassador John Bolton to testify.
Americans support the role of the U.N., Coburn, a crusader against wasteful federal spending, told reporters after talks with U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown. But they want it held accountable, and there isn't a good accountability and that has to happen.
A number of U.S. officials, led by Bolton, criticized Malloch Brown last week after he accused the George W. Bush administration of keeping its extensive reliance on the United Nations a secret in Middle America because working with the world body was not perceived to be good politics at home.
In his speech, Malloch Brown said the United States was the sole country not fully supporting the renovation project, estimated to cost $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion.
While the aging U.N. complex may well be the most hazardous workplace in New York, he said, years of unchecked U.N.-bashing had made U.S. politicians fearful even of supporting the refurbishing of a building, he said.
Bolton called the speech an insult to the American people and pressed U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to repudiate Malloch Brown's remarks. If he didn't, the victim, I fear, will be the United Nations, Bolton said.
But Annan said he agreed with Malloch Brown's comments.
While Washington pays for about a quarter of the U.N. budget, Coburn said it was not an option to reduce dues.
I don't think the United States is pushing the United Nations away, he said. We want to play, but we want to play in a way that we can measure the response and where our money goes.