The Devil is in the Details of the State Department Budget

We have heard some Republicans say we would have been better off if Hillary won the nomination and become President.  Would we have been better off?  I don't think so plus she is also more energetic and has a real passion for her agenda.  Obama has more of a passion for basketball then he does anything else.  Even his wife from time to time has commented he can be kind of lazy.  When you have someone with an ideology like Obama, lazy is good.

Saw red when I saw that the Hillary State Department had requested $4.1B of our tax dollars in their budget for International Bodies including the 'Palestine' Embrascing UNESCO which is scheduled to get $79M which is $79M too much.  Then I remembered the relationship between Ms. Clinton Arafat's wife, Suha, so it shouldn't shock any of us.  Just a little reminder in case you may have forgotten:

On November 11, 1999, Hillary gave Suha Arafat, a hug and kiss following Suha's anti Israel speech where Ms. Clinton just sat there.

During the First Lady's recent visit to Israel, she sat silently only feet away as the wife of Yassir Arafat gave a speech accusing Israel of using poison to kill Palestinian women and children. Having heard what we now know was an accurate translation of these vile slanders, Hillary voiced no disagreement and moments later warmly embraced and kissed Suha Arafat. 

Less widely reported is that during this taxpayer-funded campaign trip, Mrs. Clinton told reporters she had "no comment" about whose capital Jerusalem should be, refusing to reaffirm a pro-Israel position she put in writing only weeks ago to Orthodox rabbis in New York.

Secretary of State Clinton has told Obama she will be leaving the State Department when a new Secretary of State is chosen and confirmed after Obama gets reelected.  Think we should make sure she doesn't get a chance to help pick her successor by electing a Republican like Rick Santorum who will appoint a new Secretary of State and who will stand up for American interests around the world and not bow to the Saudi king like Obama.

Obama's comments he made about the State Department budget are irritating to say the least:

“The Administration will advance the President’s vision of robust multilateral engagement as a crucial tool in advancing U.S. national interests, accomplished through our contributions to the
United Nations, peacekeeping operations and international organizations,” the White House said in an overview of the State budget request. 

“Our contributions enable U.S. participation in over 40 international organizations that maintain peace and security, promote economic growth, and advance human rights around the world.”

One thing is definite under a Santorum Administration as the State Department budget will be gone over with a fine tooth comb and American tax dollars will not be sent to agencies who work against us.  Think the United Nations is like a big black hole for US tax dollars.  Count me as part of the 'Get the US out of the UN and the UN out of the US' as our tax dollars are wasted on the UN being in NYC.  How many countries would allow an organization to have speakers who trash the country they are in when they speak?  Not many I bet.

Why does the US pays 22 percent of the UN’s regular budget, and more than 25 percent of its peacekeeping budget?  Then we learn that the State Department is only one of 17 agencies that help fund the UN and on top of that the US gives voluntary contributions to agencies of the UN.

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) tracks overall U.S. contributions to the U.N. system. Its most recent report, released last June and covering FY2010, showed that the State Department was one of 17 government agencies that contributed to the U.N.

All total it looks like the US gives the UN and its agencies $11.7B, but we wouldn't be shocked if it is more  as some agencies try to hide the details.  Is this one of the reasons the Democrat Senate doesn't want to take up the budget for FY13 saying it was passed as part of an agreement before Christmas.  Please help take out the Democrat leadership in the Senate so once again both Houses of Congress will pass a budget. 

Administration Seeks $4.1 Billion for Int’l Bodies, Including ‘Palestine’-Embracing UNESCO

By Patrick GoodenoughFebruary 14, 2012 

(CNSNews.com) – The State Department budget request for fiscal year 2013 includes $4.1 billion for contributions to the United Nations and other international bodies. Among the intended recipients is the U.N’s cultural agency, which lost U.S. funding in FY2012 after it became the first U.N. agency to grant full membership to “Palestine.” 

The budget request released Monday includes $79 million for the Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). 

UNESCO’s funding was cut last November in line with U.S. legislation that denies funds to any U.N. body “which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states.” 

Thomas Nides, the State Department’s deputy secretary for management and resources, told a briefing Monday that President Obama wanted waiver authority that would allow the U.S. to continue supporting UNESCO in the future. 

“We have put the money in the budget, realizing that we’re not going to be able to spend the money unless we get the waiver – and we have made it clear to the Congress we’d like a waiver,” he said. 

Nides added that UNESCO does “a lot of enormously good work, and we’d like to make sure that we have a contribution commensurate with their work.”

Senior Republicans warned the administration last fall not to look for ways around the law. 

“Any effort to walk back U.S. law would send the damaging message that the U.S. will keep paying for U.N. bodies no matter what they do,” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said at the time. 

While the State Department’s budget request for contributions to the U.N. and other international organizations is $4.1 billion, total funding for the U.N. system would be higher, since the State Department is not the only conduit of funding. 

(snip) 

Although State accounted for the largest share of the total by far, agencies including the Departments of Agriculture, Labor and Health and Human Services also contributed to that year’s total expenditure for the U.N. – $7.69 billion. 

Congressional Republican are pushing legislation that would make U.S. funding to the world body contingent on far-reaching reforms. 

The U.N. Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act seeks a radical change in the way the U.N. is funded, allowing the U.S. and other member states to fund only those activities and agencies they regard as being well-run and in the national interest. 

(snip)

Apart from those “assessed” dues, the U.S. gives considerably more in “voluntary contributions” to various U.N. agencies. 

Excerpt:  Read More at CNS 

The fact we have "voluntary contributions" over and above the 22% of the UN budget the US provides makes us wonder if anyone has a solid number of how much we fund the UN from the 17 agencies.  Why does the US make "voluntary contributions?"  Here is the list of the larger ones which means there are even more smaller ones:

• $125 million for the U.N. Children’s Fund (Unicef) 
• $114.5 million for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) 
• $111 million for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) 
• $109.4 million for the World Health Organization (WHO) 
• $88.3 million for the International Labor Organization (ILO) 
• $78.9 million for UNESCO 
• $67.2 million for the U.N. Development Program (UNDP) 
• $39 million to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA)

These are your tax dollars at work and we need a Congress and a President who will say NO to voluntary contributions and NO to the US funding so much of the UN expenses.