The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights and Oversight held a hearing on July 27 on achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals through public-private partnerships. The witnesses described ways in which public-private partnerships have been used to increase funding and successfully support US projects for many years.

Before adjourning for its monthlong August recess, Congress sent to President Obama a fiscal-year 2010 emergency spending bill containing nearly $100 million for UN peacekeeping to cover expenses for Haiti. It also began consideration of fiscal-year 2011 appropriations bills to finance US contributions to the United Nations. In an environment of intense political pressure to limit federal spending, the House and the Senate, with a slight exception, met or exceeded the president’s financing requests for UN peacekeeping, US dues to the UN and UN specialized agencies and voluntary contributions to UN programs.