December 13, 2000

Congress May Compromise on UN Funding
Public Smoking Banned in Washington Suburb
Congress, White House Near Immigration Agreement

Congress May Compromise on UN Funding

Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., D-Del., offered a possible compromise today for U.S. funding of the United Nations, saying he would urge his Senate colleagues to lower their sights on a reduction in the U.S. share of the U.N. peacekeeping budget if the world body agrees to cut Washington's portion of its regular administrative budget, according to The Washington Post.

"I'm of the view that if there is movement in the direction of the U.S. position, there would be an opportunity to be flexible on peacekeeping," Biden told reporters after an address to the U.N. Security Council.

The announcement provided the first hint that Congress might be willing to compromise over the terms for payment of U.S. debts to the United Nations, which total more than $1.6 billion by the organization's count and about $1 billion by Congress' count.

The United Nations is a miasma of corruption beset by inefficiency, Kafkaesque bureaucracy, and misconceived programs. The Cato Handbook for Congress recommends that the United States withhold all payments to the United Nations until it undergoes a comprehensive audit, eliminates all programs and agencies that do not meet stringent criteria for mission, organization, and performance, and Congress passes legislation that prohibits U.S. troop involvement in U.N. military operations.

Public Smoking Banned in Washington Suburb

County legislators approved a smoking ban yesterday in the affluent suburban village of Friendship Heights near Washington, D.C. Antismoking advocates described the measure as the most extensive in the nation, according to The New York Times.

Under the policy, anyone who smokes or discards tobacco products on sidewalks, lawns or other areas owned by the Village of Friendship Heights will be issued a warning, followed by a $100 civil fine for the next offense. The policy also extends to parks and buildings owned by the village.

In "Clinton's Tobacco War: How High the Constitutional Price?" Cato scholar Jerry Taylor writes that bans on smoking and tobacco to "save our kids from Joe Camel run roughshod over our most basic civil liberties and threaten to actually ban cigarettes as we know them."

Congress, White House Near Immigration Agreement

Congressional Republicans said today that they were nearing agreement with the White House on legislation that would grant legal status to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants, according to The New York Times.

After resisting the idea for months, the Republicans have submitted an amnesty proposal to the White House, and they said they were inching toward an agreement that could be included in a comprehensive budget deal, clearing the way for adjournment of the 106th Congress.

The agreement falls far short of the comprehensive amnesty sought by President Clinton, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, immigration lawyers and civil rights groups. But the proposal goes further than most Republicans were willing to go before the Nov. 7 election, offering benefits to tens of thousands of additional immigrants.

In the Cato Handbook for Congress, Daniel Griswold and Stephen Moore call for easing immigration laws and expanding quotas for immigrant workers. In "Keep Giving Us Your Best and Your Brightest," Moore argues that "immigrants are generally assets to our economy and our culture."

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