Rep. Kerry Bentivolio is raising serious questions about U.S. contributions to the United Nations, given the body's impotence in enforcing the multilateral treaty banning chemical weapons.
"The U.N., they say, cannot act," the Michigan Republican said on the House floor Monday night, referring to administration's complaints about Russia and China blocking Security Counsel action against Syrian President Bashar Assad's reported use of chemical weapons against his own people.
"I am asking the same question my constituents are asking: Why do we spend billions of dollars supporting an international organization for peace that cannot support a treaty supported by the entire world?" Bentivolio asked,
The Hill reported.
In 2010, the United States sent almost $8 billion to the United Nations, but Congress has required detailed figures of how much has been given since then.
Bentivolio went beyond the funding issue, however, questioning why the United Nations should even exist.
"If the UN is so hamstrung that it cannot rally the world to stop Assad, and we have to unilaterally attack Syria, what exactly is the point of having a U.N.?" he said.
The congressman's comments came as White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice acknowledged in a speech Monday, according to
The Wall Street Journal, that U.N. support for a strike on Syria is "just not going to happen."
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