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1 1 (January 12, 2022)

handle is hein.crs/goveguv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Congressional Research Service informing the IegsIlative debate since 1914 Updated January 12, 2022 United Nations Issues: U.S. Funding to the U.N. System The United States is the single largest financial contributor to the United Nations (U.N.) system. Congress has long debated the appropriate level of U.S. funding to U.N. system activities and whether U.S. contributions are used efficiently and effectively. U.S. policymakers' perspectives on U.N. funding have varied over time. The Trump Administration consistently proposed significant overall decreases in U.N. funding and withheld funding to several U.N. bodies. At the same time, Congress generally funded most U.N. entities at higher levels than the Administration requested. The Biden Administration supports reengaging with the United Nations; the President's FY2022 budget request proposed fully funding U.N. entities and paying selected U.S. arrears. UN. System Funding The U.N. system comprises interconnected entities including specialized agencies, funds and programs, peacekeeping operations, and the U.N. organization itself. The U.N. Charter, ratified by the United States in 1945, requires each member state to contribute to the expenses of the organization. The system is financed by assessed and voluntary contributions from U.N. members. Assessed contributions are required dues, the payment of which is a legal obligation accepted by a country when it becomes a member. Such funding provides U.N. entities with a regular source of income to pay for staff and implement core programs. For example, the U.N. regular budget, specialized agencies, and peacekeeping operations are all financed mainly by assessed contributions. Voluntary contributions primarily finance U.N. funds and programs. The budgets for these entities may fluctuate annually depending on donor contribution levels. For more information on the U.N. system, see CRS In Focus IF11780, United Nations Issues: Overview of the United Nations System, by Luisa Blanchfield. U.N. regular budget. The U.N. regular budget funds the core administrative costs of the organization, including the U.N. General Assembly, Security Council, Secretariat, International Court of Justice, special political missions, and human rights entities. The regular budget is adopted by the Assembly and used to cover a two-year period; however, in 2017 the Assembly voted to change the budget cycle to a one-year period beginning in 2020. Most Assembly decisions related to the budget are adopted by consensus. When budget votes occur (which is rare) decisions are made by a two-thirds majority of members present and voting, with each country having one vote. The approved regular budget for 2022 is $3.12 billion. The General Assembly determines a scale of assessments for the regular budget every three years based on a country's capacity to pay. Most recently, the Assembly adopted assessment rates for the 2022-2024 period in December 2021. The U.S. assessment is currently 22%, the highest of any U.N. member, followed by China (15.25%) and Japan (8.03%). U.N. Specialized Agencies. The 15 U.N. specialized agencies, which include the World Health Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization, and World Bank Group, among others, are autonomous in executive, legislative, and budgetary powers. Some agencies follow the scale of assessment for the U.N. regular budget, while others use their own formulas to determine assessments. U.N. peacekeeping funding. There are currently 12 U.N. peacekeeping missions worldwide with over 80,000 military, police, and civilian personnel. U.N. Security Council resolutions establishing new operations specify how each mission will be funded. In most cases, the Council authorizes the General Assembly to create a discrete account for each operation funded by assessed contributions; recently, the General Assembly temporarily allowed peacekeeping funding to be pooled for increased financial flexibility due to concerns about budget shortfalls. The approved budget for the 2021-2022 peacekeeping fiscal year is $6.37 billion. The peacekeeping scale of assessments is based on modifications of the regular budget scale, with the five permanent Council members assessed at a higher level than for the regular budget. The current U.S. peacekeeping assessment is 26.94%; however, Congress has capped the U.S. contribution at 25%. Other top contributors include China (18.68%) and Japan (8.03%). US. Funding Congress has generally authorized funding to the U.N. system as part of Foreign Relations Authorization Acts. When authorization bills are not enacted, Congress has waived such requirements and appropriated funds through the Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) accounts in annual Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs (SFOPS) appropriations bills (Table 1). President Biden's FY2022 budget request includes the following: * $1.66 billion for the Contributions to International Organizations (CIO) account, which funds assessed contributions to the U.N. regular budget, U.N. specialized agencies, and other international organizations (a $157 million increase over enacted FY2021 funding of $1.51 billion). The request fully funds U.N. bodies and includes $82.4 million to pay U.S. arrears that accumulated due to U.S. withholdings from U.N. human rights bodies (including the Human Rights Council) from FY2018 to FY2020. It also requests $75 million to pay one year of assessments to the U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and includes waiver language to provide authority to rejoin the organization.

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