Last July, Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) introduced legislation to permanently repeal the 25% cap on U.S. contributions to UN peacekeeping operations. In addition to eliminating the cap—which has caused the U.S. to accrue more than $1 billion in debt on its peacekeeping dues since 2017—the bill would task the U.S. Ambassador to the UN with the using the U.S. position at the UN to push for a number of commonsense peacekeeping reforms. Over the last several months, BWC, UNA-USA, and partner organizations have focused on recruiting new cosponsors for the legislation, in order to demonstrate robust Congressional support for permanently lifting the cap. As part of this effort, BWC and the Friends Committee on National Legislation have met with several dozen offices, while UNA members have done the much-needed work of sending letters and e-mails and making calls to their elected representatives.

Currently, we are at 15 cosponsors, and will be mounting a renewed effort this year to increase that total. Thank you for everything you’ve done to date to spread the word on Capitol Hill about this long overdue piece of legislation. Moving forward, your continued engagement will be critical to ensure we get as strong a showing as possible in support of H.R. 4420.