U.S. backs down on plan for rejoining UNESCO

Abstract

Ever since Bill Clinton was elected President, the Administration has been promising to rejoin the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Now—perhaps to preempt congressional opposition from Republicans—the Administration has backed down. The State Department included $65 million for UNESCO membership in its fiscal 1996 budget request last fall to the White House Office of Management & Budget. But OMB apparently has now deleted this sum from the budget scheduled to be sent to Congress. UNESCO was founded in 1946 to further world peace and security by promoting cooperation in education, science, and culture. UNESCO gives substantial financial support to activities of the world body of science, the International Council of Scientific Unions, and its affiliated unions in chemistry and other fields. The U.S. left UNESCO in 1984, charging it was mismanaged, its budget was growing too fast, and its programs were politically biased. Since then, Spanish biochemist Frederico Mayor...