Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2022

Floor Speech

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Ms. JACOBS of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to oppose my colleague Congresswoman Claudia Tenney's amendment No. 34, which would maintain the arbitrary 25 percent cap on U.S. contributions to U.N. peacekeeping operations.

I recently introduced legislation, the U.S. Commitment to Peacekeeping Act that would, among other things, permanently repeal this cap and ensure that the United States is fulfilling its commitments to the United Nations.

As someone who used to work at the U.N. Department of Peace Operations, I know firsthand how the cap and resulting arrears have harmed our interests. It damages our standing and credibility at the U.N. making it difficult to effectively advocate for human rights.

It reduces our ability to conduct proper oversight and accountability through needed reforms, something my colleagues on both sides of the aisle agree is important.

It also impairs peacekeeping missions' ability to operate and delays funding to peacekeepers.

All of this makes it harder for the United States to advocate for and secure its interests. In order to fully lead on the global stage, we need to fully commit to our international obligations.

Tenney amendment No. 34 is counterproductive. I oppose it in the strongest terms, and urge my colleagues to join me in rejecting these efforts to weaken our standing at the U.N. and around the world.

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Ms. JACOBS of California. Madam Speaker, I rise in support of this en bloc package and thank the gentlewoman for including my amendment today.

Madam Speaker, before coming to Congress, I served at the State Department working on countering and preventing violent extremism and addressing the real drivers behind it. What we know is that it is not possible to solely rely on security assistance and military tools to counter violent extremism. In fact, one of the common drivers of local recruitment into these extremist groups is abuses by state security forces.

When the United States provides security assistance to militaries tasked with countering violent groups, we need to acknowledge the possible consequences and ensure that the assistance we do provide is not going to people who will abuse their own citizens and, in turn, exacerbate the very problem we are seeking to address in the first place. We need to properly allocate resources to actually address the drivers of violence and conflict, which means more funding to efforts like the Global Fragility Act.

Madam Speaker, I look forward to working with my colleagues on these efforts.

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