UN "reform" measure proposed. (Insider Report).

Congressman David Dreier (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Rules Committee, and Congressman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) are cosponsors of H.R. 1590, the "United States International Leadership Act of 2003." As summarized by the Council on Foreign Relations, the measure would require the State Department "to seek the creation of a 'democracy caucus' at the United Nations and other key international organizations. It also requires the State Department to seek reform of the leadership criteria at all UN bodies to prevent countries who are subject to UN sanctions or are listed as state-sponsors of terrorism from heading UN commissions."

One of the findings cited in the Dreier-Lantos bill is: "International organizations and other multilateral institutions play a key role in United States foreign policy and serve key United States foreign policy objectives, such as obligating all countries to freeze assets of terrorist groups, preventing the proliferation of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons and spearheading the fight to combat the ravages of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases." In keeping with the Bush administration's performance -- if not its rhetoric -- the Dreier-Lantos bill treats the UN, the centerpiece of the international system, as our foreign policy focal point.

The CFR proudly notes that the measure "incorporates many proposals made in a 2002 joint Council on Foreign Relations and Freedom House Task Force on Enhancing the Role of the United States at the UN, co-chaired by Dreier and former Congressman Lee Hamilton (D-IN)."