How the U.S. Funds the UN

Each year, Congress must pass legislation to fund the activities and obligations of the U.S. government.

The President's Budget Request

More than a year before the beginning of the U.S. fiscal year on October 1, federal agencies and the Office of Management and Budget develop a spending plan that reflects both the broad priorities of the President and details his recommendations for agencies' budgets. By the February before the start of the fiscal year, the President submits that budget to Congress.

The State Department's budget includes the U.S.-assessed contribution to the UN's regular budget -- along with 43 other UN-system, regional, and non-UN organizations -- in its Contributions to International Organizations (CIO) account. U.S. assessed contributions to the UN's peacekeeping operations are in the State Department's Contributions to International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA) account.

The Budget Resolution

Once Congress receives the President's budget, the House and Senate Budget Committees use it to develop their own broad outline to guide Congress' spending decisions. The committees package their recommendations into a Concurrent Budget Resolution. Congressional budget rules require that both houses pass the Concurrent Budget Resolution by mid April, but they often consider it much later, and sometimes not at all.

The Concurrent Budget Resolution lays out the budget in broad categories of spending. It establishes a funding level for Function 150, International Affairs, and assumes UN funding will come from that pot, but does not specify a dollar amount for the UN.

Appropriations

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees write the legislation that specifies how much money federal agencies may spend. Starting in early spring, the 12 appropriations subcommittees in each house hold hearings and draft bills. The Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs sets the funding level for the State Department and the UN.

Ideally, the House and the Senate take up each appropriations bill, pass it, work out the differences between the two houses in a conference committee, then vote again on the final compromise version -- all before the beginning of the fiscal year on October 1. But Congress frequently resorts to temporary, stop-gap spending measures as the appropriations process drags on past the fiscal year deadline, and individual bills are sometimes packaged into omnibus spending measures to save time.

The Law

When the President signs an appropriations bill passed in both the House and the Senate, that bill becomes law.

Current and Proposed U.S. Funding for the UN

Over the past three years, after years of accumulating arrears in its UN dues, the U.S. returned to good financialstanding at the world body by fully funding its regular and peacekeeping budget assessments and paying off past debts. In the coming year, we ask that Congress honor U.S. financial obligations to the UN and fully fund our nation’s regular and peacekeeping budget dues. Full funding for our assessed dues to the UN ensures that it can carry out its vital humanitarian, peacekeeping, democracy-building, and development work, all of which serve core U.S. foreign policy interests. As the U.S. is the UN’s largest contributor, Congressional funding shortfalls significantly impact the UN’s ability to carry out its operations.

Below is a chart detailing FY 2011 and FY 2012 funding levels, along with the President’s request for FY 2013.

*This total includes $91,818,000 within the Peacekeeping Operations (PKO) account designated to pay assessed expenses of international peacekeeping activities in Somalia.

**This total includes $101,300,000 designated for CIO provided in the Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) account.