Sen. Mike Lee and Republicans launch effort to withdraw US from United Nations
FIRST ON FOX: Republican lawmakers have launched an effort to withdraw the U.S. from the United Nations, amid concern that the international humanitarian and human rights organization fails to promote American interests and align with President Donald Trump’s “America First” agenda.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced legislation Thursday called the Disengaging Entirely From the United Nations Debacle Act of 2025, which would terminate U.S. membership in the U.N. and its affiliated bodies, and funding to those groups. Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., is co-sponsoring the measure in the upper chamber.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, is poised to introduce the measure in the House Friday, claiming that the U.N. and its bodies don’t advance the interests of Americans.
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Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah., introduced legislation in the Senate that would cut U.S. involvement from the United Nations. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)
“The United Nations has devolved into a platform for tyrants and a venue to attack America and her allies,” Lee said in a Thursday statement to Fox News Digital. “We should stop paying for it. As President Trump revolutionizes our foreign policy by putting America first, we should withdraw from this sham organization and prioritize real alliances that keep our country safe and prosperous.”
The U.S. provides more funding than any other country to the U.N., donating more than $18 billion in 2022, according to the U.S. foreign policy think tank the Council on Foreign Relations. That makes up roughly a third of the U.N.’s entire collective budget.
“The United Nations has enjoyed American tax money while often undermining our interests, attacking our allies and bolstering our adversaries,” Roy said in a Thursday statement to Fox News Digital.
“What has the United Nations achieved?” Roy said. “Despite all of the money and the attention, this corrupt globalist organization has, for decades, failed to prevent wars, genocides, human rights violations and even pandemics.”
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U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, will introduce the measure in the House on Feb. 20, 2025. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Specifically, Roy pointed to U.N. groups like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), which assists Palestinian refugees and their descendants.
However, the organization has come under scrutiny after a U.N. investigation found that UNRWA employees may have been involved in Palestinian-militant group Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. The U.S. temporarily halted funding for UNRWA in January 2024 in response to the report.
“No sane country would stand for this,” Roy said in his statement.
Republican Reps. Mike Rogers of Alabama, Eli Crane of Arizona, Diana Harshbarger of Tennessee, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, Harriet Hageman of Wyoming, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia co-sponsored the legislation.
The legislation also specifies that the U.S. may not participate in peace negotiations with the U.N., and bars the executive branch from entering any agreements for membership with the U.N. or its subsidiaries without Senate approval.
Co-sponsors of the measure in the House include the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Republican Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama. (Getty Images)
The U.N. also has received pushback from Democrats amid the Israel–Hamas conflict. For example, 11 Democrats joined Republican counterparts in sending a letter to U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres in October 2024, claiming the U.N. has failed to remain neutral and has “definitively taken sides against Israel.”
The lawmakers pointed to a resolution the United Nations General Assembly passed that Israel return all land and assets it settled in the Palestinian Territories since 1967.
“We will not accept the U.N.’s ongoing hostility to our ally Israel,” the lawmakers wrote.
The American people remain divided on their views of the U.N. For example, more than 70% of Democrats and liberal-leaning independents reported they maintained a favorable view of the U.N., compared to 34% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, according to a Pew Research Center survey released in April 2024.
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Trump sought to cut or reduce funding to U.N. groups during his first term, and he has also done so in his second term. He signed an executive order in February pulling the U.S. out of the U.N.’s Human Rights Council and cutting funding for UNRWA.
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report.
