Defiant US lawmakers vote to withhold UN dues.(United States membership of United Nations Human Rights Commission and UNESCO)(Brief Article)

UNITED STATES lawmakers brushed aside White House objections and went ahead to punish the United Nations, by approving an amendment to hold back US$244 million (RM927.2 million) in dues to the world body until the US was reinstated into the UN Human Rights Commission.

Lawmakers, however, approved a payment of US$582 million to the world body and supported the return of the US to the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco), a body it first left in 1984.

The Congress vote to deliver the threat to the UN was made although the White House and the Bush administration had warned that it would further inflame relations with the world body. …