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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2022

The Helms-Biden Act

Résumé

Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is now best known as the 46th president of the United States (2021-). He previously served as Barack Obama's vice-president (2009-2017). As such, he was a fixture in the United Nation's general assembly. Nonetheless, Mr. Biden's most durable UN legacy comes from his time in the US Senate. For a decade (1997-2007), the Delaware representative alternatively served as president of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee or as ranking member. Starting 1994, a Republican-dominated Congress started talking of a refusal to pay America's dues to the United Nations. The organization, it was argued, needed to be reformed, and America's contribution to the UN budget reduced. In the late 1990's Congress consequently refused to appropriate payments. As time went by, the US started to accumulate significant arrears (approximately one billion dollars). To solve the problem, together with fellow senator Jesse Helms (Republican, North Carolina), Biden co-sponsored the Helms-Biden Bill (signed into law by president Clinton in 1999). The Act stipulated that US would release the much-needed money under the condition that its demands were met. Additionally, US Ambassador to the UN Richard Holbrooke persuaded other nations to accept the bi-partisan US legislation, even if this meant they would have to massively increase their own contribution to the world body. To be sure, the Act was passed in a very dissimilar era, and Biden served in a different capacity then. Nonetheless the making of this legislation provides insight into the current president's diplomatic approach. To what extent has Biden's ability to reach across the aisle diminished? What can be said of his unorthodox "strategic empathy" approach? What does the Act reveal of the nature of the US-UN relationship? These are some of the questions that we wish to explore in this presentation.
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hal-04306565 , version 1 (25-11-2023)

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Raphaël Ricaud. The Helms-Biden Act. 53ème Congrès de l’Association Française d’Études Américaines (AFEA) Légitimité, Autorité, Canons / Legitimacy, Authority, Canons, Sylvie Bauer, Université Rennes 2 Sébastien Mort, Université de Lorraine (Site de Metz) Elizabeth Mullen, Université de Bretagne Occidentale, May 2022, Bordeaux, France. ⟨hal-04306565⟩

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