WASHINGTON (AN) — Senators voiced bipartisan support for United Nations reform as U.S. Ambassador Mike Waltz testified before the Foreign Relations Committee, but some disagreed over whether funding cuts and reduced engagement are the best way to put American interests first.
"The U.N. must work for American interests,” Waltz told the committee on Wednesday. “The U.N. has tremendous potential, but it needs to do its job. It needs to realize that potential."
Following the broader pattern of U.S. withdrawal from international institutions under the Trump administration, officials have pushed to reshape the 193-nation world body around U.S. interests. The U.S. has withheld roughly $4 billion in unpaid dues, while pressing for a focus on peace and security instead of climate change and diversity initiatives.
Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, criticized the Trump administration for withdrawing from international organizations, and for “trash talking allies,” imposing higher tariffs on friendly nations, and threatening to usurp Greenland.
"Everyone agrees with 'America First,' most people don’t agree with America alone," Kaine said.
Waltz, in his written testimony, described the United Nations as an institution that "promotes distracting and wasteful narratives that fall outside core mandates," and as a promoter of "harmful climate and gender ideologies, and discriminatory DEI programs and policies" – a reference to the diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that the Trump administration has moved aggressively to dismantle within the federal government and for federal contractors.
But under President Donald Trump’s leadership, Waltz said, the United States is intent on "getting the U.N. back to basics: ending conflicts, keeping the peace, and delivering lifesaving assistance." Trump claims to have ended several wars, but last month his administration initiated a new war with Iran.
In his welcoming remarks, the committee's chairman, Sen. Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho, similarly described the United Nations as an inefficient bureaucracy and commended Waltz’s efforts to change the organization.
Risch targeted UNESCO, the U.N. agency for education, science and culture, as failing to serve American interests, and said too many other U.N. bodies are "focusing on woke ideology" instead of the core mission of preventing armed conflict. The Trump administration has announced the U.S. is withdrawing from UNESCO, effective at the end of 2026, marking the third time the U.S. has left the organization.
"Last year, the American people returned President Trump to the White House with a clear mandate to put America First in its foreign policy. That included a hard look at the United Nations," Waltz told senators.
Chinese influence within the U.N. grows as U.S. retreats
The Trump administration also has announced its withdrawal from numerous other international organizations and treaties, including the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change, and slashed billions in global humanitarian aid while dismantling USAID.
Nineteen percent of U.N. staff were cut this year, and the U.N.’s 2026 budget has already been reduced by 15% from last year's. The global organization, which has long relied on the U.S. for more than a fifth of its budget, said the downsizing reflects its UN80 reform initiative, launched to mark its 80th anniversary.
While U.S. senators on both sides of the aisle agreed the United Nations, headquartered in New York, must be overhauled to more directly align with American interests, they disagreed over precisely what the reforms should be.
"You’ve got two very major conflicts going on right now with Iran and Ukraine," Risch noted, describing the U.S. as sidelined by major powers. "The U.N. is really powerless to engage with that and doesn’t really do anything about it."
The Trump administration, however, abstained from voting on a resolution approved by the U.N. General Assembly earlier this year calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine. The Senate committee's most senior Democrat, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, expressed concern that the administration has isolated itself from traditional allies. "American power is strongest when exercising it with allies," she said. "Alliances multiply our power."
Shaheen also warned of a power vacuum created by the U.S. withdrawal from U.N. agencies and leadership roles. In January, Trump moved to dismantle many of the foundations of the postwar global order, signing a presidential memorandum to withdraw the U.S. from 66 international organizations and treaties.
"As the United States pulls back, China is stepping in more aggressively," she said, noting that as of last year China had become the second-largest contributor to the U.N. budget and the largest contributor of peacekeeping troops among the five permanent, veto-wielding members of the 15-nation U.N. Security Council.
Over the past decade, China's presence at the organization has roughly doubled while U.S. representation has dropped, Shaheen added. "Beijing is using this to shape outcomes and advance its priorities," she warned.
Sen. Ted Cruz, Republican of Texas, similarly cautioned that "China poses the greatest geopolitical threat to the United States over the long term." He said the "threat is global, systematic and includes a sustained effort by the Chinese Communist Party to shape and, in many cases, dominate" the United Nations.
Asked by Cruz what actions should be taken to prevent China from taking over international organizations like the U.N., Waltz replied the United States should "make sure we have American like-minded allies in some key organizations."
