Keep our Veto power, cut our aid(money) that support our, and Israel’s, enemies.

November 28, 2012

Dear Mr. Cogburn,

Thank you for your letter sharing your support for our withdrawal from the United Nations (UN). It is good to hear from you again.

We should never sacrifice our sovereignty to an international government. I want to assure you that, like you, I believe we are a sovereign nation and should set our own policies and standards in accordance with our Constitution, which leaves most authority with the states and the people.

We both agree that the outcome of U.S. participation in the United Nations produces little or no measurable results that accomplish U.S. priorities and we disagree on many policy positions. However, if the U.S. withdrew from the UN altogether, we would no longer be able to veto misguided UN Security Council resolutions that undermine U.S. national security or attack one of our most important allies in the Middle East, Israel.

However, I question the amount of money our country pays to the UN when we see so little in return, and when we must constantly thwart challenges to our sovereignty. The United States pays 22 percent share of the UN budget, while China and Russia, who both regularly veto the United States and other Security Council members, only pay 3.2 percent and 1.6 percent shares respectively. This does not include the additional 27 percent share the United States pays as part of the UN’s multi-billion dollar peacekeeping efforts. Additionally, the UN has often been subject to waste, fraud, and mismanagement, even refusing to publish taxpayer funded internal reports on waste and program effectiveness. I can assure you if the United Nations does not comply with congressionally mandated accountability standards, I will seek to end the U.S. taxpayer support the UN currently enjoys.

You may be interested to know that there is currently a bill in Congress, H.R. 1146, that aims to end membership of the United States in the UN. Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) is the sponsor of this bill, which was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs on March 17, 2011, and is awaiting further action. I will keep your thoughts in mind as this bill works its way through Congress.

Thank you again for contacting me. Please do not hesitate to do so again. Best wishes!

Sincerely,
Tom A. Coburn, M.D.
United States Senator

TC: jmg