Senator Tom Coburn's activity on the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security

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August 1, 2006

U.S. contributions to the U.N. system are over $5.3 billion

OMB, for the first time ever, reveals how much the taxpayers fund the U.N.

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released a report yesterday to Dr. Coburn on contributions of U.S. taxpayers to the United Nations. Before this report, no one in the federal government had ever developed a public compilation of the total U.S. contributions, including non-monetary, to the entire U.N. system.

According to the report, in 2005, the United States gave $5.3 billion to the U.N—a 30% increase from 2004 funding level of $4.1 billion. Almost every Department of the U.S. government plus several independent agencies fund the U.N. Although the U.N. does not track this information or at least does not make such information public, most experts say the total U.N. budget is between $15-20 billion. The U.S. funded portion is between 25% and 30%.

The release of this report is a small first step towards transparency for the U.S. government. The taxpayers donate a considerable amount of cash and in-kind contributions to the U.N., but without knowing where the money is going and exactly how much, it is impossible to judge whether or not this is money well spent.

Related Resources:

Letters:

OMB: Report on U.S. Contributions to the U.N. System (FY01-05) (9.3 MBs)

Jul 31, 2006

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Senator Tom Coburn's activity on the Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management, Government Information, and International Security

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