The White House budget office is seeking to slash funding for U.N. peacekeeping missions, pointing to operational failures in Mali, Lebanon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to internal documents reviewed by Reuters.
The U.S. is the U.N.'s largest financial contributor, providing 22% of the $3.7 billion core U.N. budget and 27% of the $5.6 billion peacekeeping budget. These payments are mandatory.
The proposed cuts to peacekeeping funding are part of the "Passback" process, which represents the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) response to the State Department's funding requests for the upcoming fiscal year, starting Oct. 1. The broader plan also includes a proposal to reduce the State Department's budget by roughly 50%.
The new budget must be approved by Congress and lawmakers could decide to restore some or all of the funding the administration has proposed cutting.
The State Department was due to respond to the OMB proposal Tuesday. During U.S. President Donald Trump's first term, he proposed cutting about a third of the diplomacy and aid budgets. But Congress, which sets the federal government budget, pushed back on Trump's proposal.
"There is no final plan, final budget," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce told reporters Tuesday when asked about the OMB proposals.
The OMB has proposed ending Contributions for International Peacekeeping Activities (CIPA).
"For example, Passback provides no funding for CIPA, ending contributions for international peacekeeping due to the recent failures in peacekeeping, such as with MINUSMA, UNIFIL and MONUSCO and the disproportionately high level of assessments," according to an excerpt from Passback.
The United Nations peacekeeping budget funds nine missions in Mali, Lebanon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, Western Sahara, the Island of Cyprus, Kosovo, between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Abyei, an administrative area jointly run by South Sudan and Sudan.
The OMB Passback also proposed the creation of a $2.1 billion America First Opportunities Fund (A1OF), which it said would be used to cover a limited set of foreign economic and development assistance priorities.
"Should the Administration seek to pay any assessments for the United Nations Regular Budget or peacekeeping assessments, we would look to provide that funding from the A1OF," read the OMB Passback.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric on Tuesday declined to comment on "what appears to be a leaked memo that is part of an internal debate within the U.S. government."
The U.S. owes, for arrears and the current fiscal year, nearly $1.5 billion for the regular U.N. budget and nearly $1.2 billion for the peacekeeping budget. A country can be up to two years in arrears before facing the possible repercussion of losing its vote in the 193-member General Assembly.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last month said he is seeking ways to improve efficiency and cut costs as the world body turns 80 this year amid a cash crisis.
