Diaz-Balart Remarks at Oversight Field Hearing on Accountability and Reform at the United Nations

Good morning Ambassador Waltz, Members of the Subcommittee, and others who have joined us today for this critically important field hearing on accountability and reform at the United Nations.  We are convened at the United States Mission to the United Nations, overlooking New York City and the UN Headquarters— a fitting vantage point to note that oversight of American tax dollars is non-negotiable.

Over the last three fiscal years, this Subcommittee has reduced total spending under its purview by 22 percent. This includes the largest cut in the recently enacted FY 2026 NSRP Appropriations Act, which slashed 16 percent by getting rid of inefficient and ineffective programs and refocusing funding on programs that are in the direct national security interest of the United States. Funding for the United Nations was not exempt from this review, which resulted in double digit cuts and stronger requirements that demand accountability and reform on behalf of the American taxpayer. 

The hearing today is an opportunity to discuss these measures that go hand in hand with the great work Ambassador Waltz and his team have just begun to undertake with notable results.  That’s what this Subcommittee, and taxpayers, will continue to demand. Results. 

As President Trump said, the United Nations has great potential. But the President also noted the UN has not come remotely close to living up to that potential.  Anyone who has followed this Subcommittee in recent years knows I could not agree more. Too often, the UN is directly at odds with America’s interests and makes a mockery of the very things it claims to support. From the Human Rights Council with many of the world’s worst offenders, to the World Health Organization’s pandering to communist China during COVID-19 while shutting out Taiwan, to Iran winning a seat on the Commission on the Status of Women while its regime brutalized women in the streets.

Luckily President Trump and Secretary Rubio are ushering in a new era of international accountability.  One that demonstrates the glaring inadequacies of the UN.

The central problem is not the Member States but the UN structure itself. It is embedded in the UN bureaucracy, its reporting practices, its discretionary funding pipelines, and its weak culture of oversight. 

For too long, Administrations have relied on UN self-reporting, vague assurances, and funding without sufficient conditions. That approach has produced a system increasingly comfortable with its own brokenness.

Let me be clear.  That era is over.  As long as I’m Chairman of the Subcommittee that provides the U.S. contributions to the UN, the status quo will no longer be tolerated.

The American people have every right to expect that institutions funded with their tax dollars will support United States security, respect our allies, and operate with transparency and accountability. Too often, that is not what we see.

The enacted fiscal year 2026 NSRP law begins to change that.

This Subcommittee worked hard to secure tools that match the scale of the problem. 

• The law cuts funding to unaccountable UN bodies and other international organizations.
• It strengthens withholdings until entities meet standards on oversight, eliminating anti-Israel bias and antisemitism, aid-diversion reporting, and terrorism vetting.
• It shifts key accountability triggers away from UN self-reporting and toward determinations by the Secretary of State.
• It strengthens Inspectors General and GAO oversight access.
• It bars funding for UNRWA and the Commission of Inquiry against Israel.
• And it provides additional leverage tied to member-state conduct, including voting patterns at the UN and the treatment of Taiwan.

In short, Congress has now provided meaningful leverage. And there is no question in my mind that this Administration with this Ambassador before us today will use it to the fullest extent. 

Ambassador, I support an approach that treats United States funding as leverage, not tribute. That means using our contributions, our position, and our voice to press for measurable reform in budget discipline, bureaucracy, political bias, and internal oversight.

As the landscape of world power is changing under President Trump’s bold leadership, regimes that are hellbent on the destruction of freedom and basic human dignity are on notice. From Tehran to Caracas, Havana, and Moscow, the message is getting through that the old assumptions of impunity no longer hold. 

But sadly, we have not had a UN Secretariat that has been a consistent advocate for freedom and human rights in decades. The current UN leadership, like its predecessors, is not living up to its job description, let alone the promise of the UN Charter to promote peace and security. Its shameful records on Iran and on Gaza make that clear. 

The UN Charter speaks of peace and security. But institutions do not earn credibility by repeating their mission statements. They earn it through conduct, transparency, neutrality, and demonstrated reform. This is the expectation.  It is a huge challenge and will be a difficult undertaking.  Luckily, we have one of our nation’s best, brightest, and most tenacious individuals in Ambassador Waltz to get the job done. 

Ambassador, thank you for your continued service to our country and your willingness to host the Subcommittee here today. I look forward to hearing how you intend to use the leverage this Subcommittee provided as well as other efforts underway to press for accountability and reform and meaningful results at the United Nations.