After the United Nations Security Council voted in December to condemn Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank, Congressman Mike Rogers of Alabama has proposed a bill in the House of Representatives that would remove the United States from the United Nations.
The bill, titled American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2017, seeks a complete U.S. withdrawal from the UN, that the international body remove its headquarters from New York and that all participation be ceased with the World Health Organization.
"The U.N. has attempted a number of actions which aimed to encroach on the rights granted to U.S. citizens under our Constitution," said Rogers. "Most recently, the U.N. Security Council sided with Palestine and passed a resolution condemning Israel's settlements in Jerusalem. Attacks against one of the United States' greatest allies are just the most recent chapter in the U.N.'s dangerous agenda. I believe our involvement in the U.N. is a waste of taxpayer dollars."
Rogers tried to pass a similar bill in 2015, but his efforts were unsuccessful.
“Why should the American taxpayer bankroll an international organization that works against America's interests around the world?” Rogers said at the time. “The time is now to restore and protect American sovereignty and get out of the United Nations.”
The current bill has been cosponsored by six other Republican members.