US Taxpayers Could Be on Hook for Hundreds of Millions More on UN Building

U.S. taxpayers could have to pay much of the bill for a new United Nations office high rise in New York City expected to cost up to $475 million, reports DailyCaller.com. This is on top of $2 billion in renovations for the U.N. headquarters originally slated to cost just $600 million.

The U.S. portion of the bill for the project could rise well beyond the 22 percent it shoulders for the U.N.’s total annual budget, Heritage Foundation member Brett Schaefer wrote in a policy paper.

Constructing “a second U.N. building would likely have significant financial implications for the U.S. federal government, which . . . would likely shoulder increased payments to the U.N. in future years resulting from costs associated with the project,” Schaefer said. “Congress has yet either to hold hearings on or to examine the details of this plan. Nor is it clear that the Obama Administration has asked for or been provided detailed information on this project.”

A recent poll shows that 73 percent of residents who live near the U.N. support the plan.

Meanwhile, Meghan Clyne of the National Affairs think tank assailed the plan in a New York Post editorial.

“The question . . . is why US taxpayers would pay a dime toward this project,” wrote Clyne. “At a time when we’re hugely in debt, and the United Nations is busy pushing Palestinian statehood and fêting Iranian nut-job Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, why should we fork over millions of dollars — and a city park — to make the United Nations’ dream of nicer, more convenient offices come true?”