An American lawmaker said Monday that any U.S. financial support for the renovation U.N. headquarters depends on how the money will be used and the transparency of the process.
Republican Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, who serves on a financial management subcommittee in the Senate, met with U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown to discuss the renovation plan.
"The U.S. Senate is not going to decide what they do, but we are going to decide whether we help pay for that based on whether there's transparency" on the part of the U.N. as the plan is developed, Coburn told reporters after the meeting.
The senator's visit comes days after a speech by Malloch Brown that rebuked the United States, the top financial contributor to the U.N. He said Washington relies on the U.N. as a diplomatic tool but refuses to defend it before its critics at home.
Coburn said he "expressed disappointment" about the comments to Malloch Brown and said he had no place criticizing the U.S. because of the "failure in terms of transparency and accountability with many aspects of the U.N."
