House Passes Jacobs U.S. Commitment to Peacekeeping Act in America COMPETES Act
Washington, D.C. - On Friday, the House passed Congresswoman Jacobs’ United States Commitment to Peacekeeping Act as part of the America COMPETES Act. Jacobs’ legislation, along with another Jacobs amendment to ensure human rights vetting for new security assistance programs, was added to the bill as an amendment on Thursday. The COMPETES Act is a comprehensive package to improve supply chains, encourage more American manufacturing, and strengthen our diplomatic efforts, and now heads to the Senate.
In July, Congresswoman Jacobs introduced H.R. 4420, the United States Commitment to Peacekeeping Act, to ensure the United States pays its share of United Nations (UN) peacekeeping dues, with Reps. Karen Bass, Joaquin Castro, and David Cicilline co-sponsoring the bill. Since 2017, the United States has accrued more than $1 billion in debt on its financial obligations to UN Peacekeeping and damaged its credibility at the UN. The UN currently maintains thirteen missions around the world. The Better World Campaign, the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the United Nations Association of the United States, Refugees International, and the Center for Civilians in Conflict, endorsed the United States Commitment to Peacekeeping Act when it was introduced.
Congresswoman Jacobs releases the following statement:
“I am proud that my legislation to support UN Peacekeeping has been included in the COMPETES Act and thank my colleagues for their support. The U.S. Commitment to Peacekeeping Act will help restore our credibility at the United Nations and make UN Peacekeeping missions more effective, which benefits civilians around the world. Our failure to pay our full UN Peacekeeping dues has been a problem for decades - and frankly it's been counterproductive. UN Peacekeeping missions make the world safer and are more cost effective than U.S. military operations.
“The COMPETES Act will help address supply chain issues, encourage more American manufacturing, and employ effective tools to compete with the People’s Republic of China. The House is continuing to move forward with legislation to tackle the issues facing the country and now it is time for the Senate to do the same.”
The legislation repeals the 25% cap on U.S. contributions to the UN’s Peacekeeping operations upon written commitment from the Under-Secretary-General of Peace Operations to engage regularly with the United States on making significant progress toward reforms outlined in the legislation in five years. Should the State Department determine significant reforms were not made in the time required, the cap would be put back in place.
Congresswoman Jacobs is a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and worked at the State Department and the United Nations before being elected to Congress. Congresswoman Jacobs’ amendment was co-led by Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Tom Malinowski (NJ-7), Karen Bass (CA-37), David Cicilline (RI-1), Ilhan Omar (MN-5), Gwen Moore (WI-4), Juan Vargas (CA-51), Dina Titus (NV-1), Mondaire Jones (NY-17), and Dean Phillips (MN-3).
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