Republican lawmakers push for US exit from UN with new legislation
Republican lawmakers have introduced a new push to withdraw the U.S. from the United Nations, citing concerns that the organization fails to align with American interests and 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, News.Az reports, citing Fox News.
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.
"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."
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.
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