House Committee Considers UN Reform

By and Kelly Heilman, J.D. | 2026

WASHINGTON D.C., May 1 (C-Fam) A subcommittee of the U.S. House heard testimony this week on UN reform, a subject UN member states are wrestling with right now. The hearing covered a range of topics, including UN effectiveness following budget cuts, transparency and accountability, and its broader legitimacy to promote human rights.

Alone among witnesses, Stefano Gennarini, Vice President for Legal Studies at C-Fam (publisher of the Friday Fax), spoke about UN social policy, specifically abortion and gender ideology.

Subcommittee Chairman Cory Mills (R-FL) said the U.S. “should not tolerate the status quo if it does not make America safer, stronger, more prosperous, and promote our values” and referred to the UN as a “bloated and ineffective” organization that needs “serious reform” to achieve its great potential.

“We must ensure that all taxpayer dollars sent to the UN are not supporting U.S. adversaries, leftists and woke pet projects, or actual terrorists themselves,” Representative Mills continued.

Gennarini explained that “even though UN bodies act in the name of the entire UN membership, whoever pays for UN programs gets to decide what goes into UN programs.” Gennarini noted that “the European Union and Anglophone countries jointly contribute 60% of the UN voluntary budget” and, thus, as a result, “UN policy promotes EU priorities.”

Representative Mills was also critical of the EU, saying that it “could not even define what a woman is” and hence should not be the ones who determine women’s rights at the UN.

In this context, Gennarini argued that U.S. budget cuts to the regulatory budget are insufficient to curb UN overreach in social policy. He explained that the U.S. would need to leverage “all the resources of the U.S. State Department, bilateral assistance, and new strategic coalitions.”

Speaking about the upcoming election of the next UN Secretary General, Gennarini said it “sets a tone” in international geopolitics. He continued that it is “fundamentally important that UN officials do not interfere in internal political debates about abortion or other controversial social policies, and it should start at the top.”

Gennarini said two of the contenders for Secretary General, Michelle Bachelet (Chile) and Rebeca Grynspan (Costa Rica), have a record of promoting abortion throughout their careers, which, if appointed, would set a tone for the UN in the aftermath of reforms.

Brett D. Schaefer, Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said that in the context of the UN, U.S. financial leverage is “underutilized or applied inconsistently,” arguing that “to secure successful outcomes, pressure must be paired with specific demands and incentives.”

“We should prioritize organizations that advance U.S. interests, withdraw from those that do not, and use our financial leverage to demand measurable reforms,” Schaefer continued.

The hearing witnesses agreed that reform is necessary but differed on the appropriate level of US engagement in the UN project more broadly. While some argued the US should be quicker to step back, Gennarini said, “UN reform requires more U.S. engagement at the UN, not less,” and that with a focused involvement, “over time, everyone will recognize the U.S. as the most benign and reliable of all the geopolitical actors vying for their friendship.”

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