WASHINGTON, DC – Congressman Bill Delahunt has been appointed as the congressional Democrat to represent the United States Congress as a delegate to the United Nations 62nd General Assembly, which begins next week. 

“It’s an honor to be nominated by Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leadership to represent the interests of the American people before the United Nations,” said Delahunt, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs panel – the Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight – that monitors the activities of the UN. 

As Chairman, Delahunt has become one of the leading experts in the Congress on the UN, and has met several times with Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon of South Korea.  As a delegate, he will participate in sessions of the General Assembly as well as working-level meetings at the UN Secretariat.   Delahunt announced that his top priority at the UN would be to promote a greater international role in the reconstruction and reconciliation of Iraq, and to boost support for the work of the High Commissioner for Refugees and for the International Organization for Migration. 

Delahunt will also push for the United States to fully fund UN peacekeeping efforts. The UN is now planning to intervene to end the genocide in Darfur, Sudan.  The Government Accountability Office has found that UN peacekeeping operations cost the American taxpayer eight times less than comparable US military operations. 

“By meeting our obligation to fund UN peacekeeping efforts which are staffed almost entirely by non-US troops, we are saving taxpayer dollars and American lives,” said Delahunt.

Finally, Delahunt intends to pursue efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change by promoting the use of renewable energy – which is also one of the primary goals of UN Secretary-General Ban over the next year.  Delahunt has expressed a strong interest in finding ways to finance renewable energy initiatives and to better coordinate the efforts of international development agencies.  In talks with German leaders this past year, he expressed interest in a proposal to establish an International Renewable Energy Agency. 

“It is important that the United States lead a robust effort to expand the use of renewable energy around the world and promote a global economy that aggressively embraces clean energy,” said Delahunt.

The U.S. Congressional Delegation to the UN is a two member; bipartisan delegation that also includes Congressman Ted Poe from Texas.  Membership rotates between the Senate and the House.  The General Assembly’s session opens in late September and runs until next April. Delahunt was first nominated as a delegate by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on March 28, 2007.

A transcript of Delahunt’s hearing on UN Peacekeeping Operations with testimony from the GAO can be found at
http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/110/36061.pdf.

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