Statement of Representative Garrett on the House Floor
June 28, 2006

Thank you Mr. Chairman,

First let me commend Chairman Wolf and Ranking Member Mollohan for all of their hard work on this bill.

I offer an amendment today that is very similar to an amendment that I offered last year and that the Chairman gracefully accepted.  My Amendment seeks to simply take 5% of U.S. assessed contributions to the United Nations and give those funds to local law enforcement agencies through the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Grants Program.  

The Byrne Memorial State and Local Law Enforcement Assistance Discretionary Grants Program is a partnership among federal, state, and local governments to create safer communities.  It awards grants to states and units of local government to improve the functioning of the criminal justice system—with emphasis on violent crime and serious offenders.

Since September 11th, this grant program has been utilized by law enforcement officials to help boost their preparedness in case of a terrorist attack.  I represent the 5th District of New Jersey, on the Hudson River directly across from New York City.  The local law enforcement officials in the region need to have all the resources available to prepare for a terrorist attack and fight violent crime.

The total sum of this transfer is roughly $20 million.  The United Nations’ entire annual budget is almost $1.9 billion.  This amounts to roughly 1 percent of the UN’s overall budget.  It is my hope that at least a portion of this money will be taken directly out of the United State’s contributions to the United Nation Information Center based here in Washington DC.  I do not see the need for US taxpayers to subsidize the United Nations’ efforts to lobby members of Congress and sell this bloated world body’s ongoing work.

The stated purpose of this Information Center is to raise awareness about the organization's work and foster relations with the American public, U.S. government officials, and NGOs.  

In a recent and very highly publicized speech regarding the relationship between the United States and the UN, Deputy Secretary-General, Mark Malloch Brown, chastised the American public and governmental officials saying we “lack judgment and are unwittingly subject to manipulation by UN detractors.”

The UN Information Center then had the audacity to promote this speech by sending it out to a wide array of Congressional and Executive branch offices.  I personally do not feel that the American public needs to be lectured by someone from an institution with the history of corruption and failed promises like the UN and secondly, I do not feel that our citizens’ tax dollars should go towards advancing these malicious and false attacks.  

And if The UN wants to repair its relations with the US Congress it should focus less on lobbying these halls and more on cleaning up within its own - and perhaps on putting an end to condescending speeches like Mr. Brown's.

I’ll conclude by reiterating how badly our law enforcement agencies need funding and that we are all well aware of the inefficiencies of the UN.  The United Nations cannot even come up with a definition of Terrorism.  After September 11th, local law enforcement agents in my district can give you a definition of terrorism because they have seen it first hand.  I offer this amendment today to make sure they have all of the tools necessary to keep our citizens safe.

While this will not address every law enforcement need throughout the country, it would meet numerous requests to help keep our communities safe from crime and terrorism.



Thank you Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.