The Hill News

The House is about to embark on a short-sighted and ultimately counterproductive attempt to shave the funding of an organization that serves U.S. foreign-policy interests.

It’s such an easy target. It’s not the first time, and it certainly won’t be the last, that Congress has identified the United Nations for cuts.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee is to mark up the fiscal 2012 State Department authorization bill on Wednesday as the process of appropriation begins. What I find particularly objectionable is the proposed withholding of funds to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is responsible for the welfare and education of 4.8 million Palestinian refugees, and the underfunding of U.N. peacekeeping operations.

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