| Sponsor | Rep. Ros-Lehtinen, Ileana |
| Date | February 9, 2011 (112th Congress, 1st Session) |
| Staff Contact | Jon Hiler |
The House is scheduled to consider H.R. __ on February 9, 2011, under a motion to suspend the rules, requiring a two-thirds majority vote for passage. The resolution was introduced by Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL) on February 9, 2011.
This legislation includes findings that:
- The United Nations continues to hold $179 million overpaid by the United States into the UN Tax Equalization Fund (TEF).
- The UN regards that $179 million surplus as “payable to the United States of America pending instructions as to its disposition.”
This legislation would declare it to be the policy of the United States:
- to instruct the UN to return the $179 million surplus;
- to push for reform of TEF to reduce future overpayments; and
- to annually instruct the UN to return any TEF surpluses.
The bill would also withhold $179 million from U.S. assessed contributions to the UN until the Secretary of State certifies to Congress that the UN has returned the $179 million surplus to the United States.
The TEF is a fund that has the net effect of reimbursing UN staff members subject to United States income taxes, for the cost of those taxes. The UN recognizes the overpayment from the U.S., but the federal government has not instructed the UN to either apply it to reduce our assessed (or mandatory) UN dues (as should occur under the UN’s own financial regulations), or to return it to the U.S. Treasury.
There is no CBO cost estimate for this bill.