UN chief to lobby Congress Tuesday against UN financing cuts

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is heading to Washington on Tuesday to press Congress not to accept the deep cuts in U.S. funding for the United Nations proposed by the Trump administration, which he said “would create an unsolvable problem to the management of the U.N.”

Spokeswoman Eri Kaneko announced Friday that Guterres will meet Republican and Democratic leaders of Congress and members of the appropriations and foreign affairs committees.

She said he is also expected to meet “senior members of the president’s cabinet.”

The United States pays 22 per cent of the U.N.’s operating budget and over 28 per cent of its peacekeeping budget.

The administration’s proposed budget would cut funding for U.N. peacekeeping by over 50 per cent. Contributions to international organizations, including the United Nations, would drop by 31 per cent.