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UN said to be stalling reforms in hopes Democrats flip House in midterm elections
While the United Nations, through its UN80 Task Force, continues a public-facing attempt to slash its budget to manage a decline in external contributions and in recognition of overlapping mandates and duplicated efforts, a U.N. diplomatic source tells Fox News Digital that the effort is an attempt «to keep a mammoth organization untouched» until 2026 midterm elections.
The source explained that the «zero-growth budget» proposed for 2026 has already been prepared, and that «talk about how we’re going to get it leaner» is only intended to «take [President] Trump for a sucker.» The source said that the U.N. believes that the budget will tide the U.N. over until the House flips to Democratic control and Trump will no longer be able to «inflict damages to the U.N.»
The source claimed the effort is the «brain child» of the U.N. Foundation, something the group refuted.
«We have never proposed linking U.N. budgetary deliberations to the U.S. mid-term elections,» a spokesperson from the U.N. Foundation told Fox News Digital.
WATCHDOG ORG CALLS FOR SANCTIONS AGAINST UN APPOINTEE ACCUSED OF ANTISEMITISM
A view of the United Nations Headquarters building in New York City, United States on Jul. 16, 2024. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
«The U.N. Foundation is an independent organization, separate from the U.N. itself. We are not involved in the U.N.’s budget process, which is decided by the U.N. General Assembly. We also share a widely held view that there is scope for efficiencies and innovations to strengthen delivery of the U.N.’s lifesaving work,» the spokesperson added.
Fox News Digital viewed internal documents which show efforts by various U.N. entities to direct cost-cutting measures. The source says some show the disingenuous nature of the effort.
A UN80 memo from the U.N. Resident Coordinators in Africa from April 2025 discusses how previous reforms have failed. It explains that they «did not fully address incentives for collaboration,» which left U.N. entities to «too often prioritize their corporate obligations over system-wide coherence.» Coordination, the memo reads, «is too easily viewed as additional work rather than a core responsibility,» and «funding competition further compounds these issues.»
UN GLOBAL COMMS ARM UNDER FIRE FOR ANTI-ISRAEL BIAS AS CRITICS CALL FOR REFORMS
The official X account for a United Nations women’s group got hammered this week after waiting almost two months to call out Hamas by name for its attack on Israel. (REUTERS/Yana Paskova/File Photo)
While the memo identifies two options for reorganization, it notes that «implementing such ambitious structural reforms, especially Option 1, will require a medium-term phased approach over a 5-10 year horizon,» and notes that Option 2 «is not likely to be viable if no structural changes are made to [headquarters] level entities.»
The U.N. source says the memo «shows…the inability of the U.N. to reform itself.»
Another memo from the office of the Secretary-General sent on April 25 directs Secretariat entities to perform a «functional review for cost reductions and efficiencies.» Among the directions provided is that personnel «identify which functions could be relocated,» including «at a minimum the functions, organizational units, post numbers, and grade levels proposed for relocation.»
Numbers were to be sent to the Office of the Controller by May 16, noting that the «tight deadline» is in line with the «very limited timeframe» the U.N. has «to prepare and submit the revised estimates through [the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ)]» so they might be considered «within the overall context of the proposed programme budget for 2026.»
Fox News Digital’s source called foul on the earnestness of the endeavor. «This Secretary-General has to deal with bodies that, even though they are called the United Nations, they do not depend on him,» they explained. «The document does not represent any value legally, because none of their boards have committed nor listened or reviewed» the order.
REPUBLICANS SEEK TO BLOCK THE REAPPOINTMENT OF UN OFFICIAL ACCUSED OF ANTISEMITISM
The chamber of the House of Representatives is seen at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 28, 2022. (J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Fox News Digital asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric whether Guterres could expect organizations with independent boards to enforce changes like those addressed in his memo. «We do not take such a pessimistic view. The Secretary-General and the heads of the U.N. Funds and Programmes will act in areas under their authority while, of course, keeping the governing bodies informed,» Dujarric said.
Before the deadline for responses came due, Guterres delivered a May 12 briefing admitting that the proposal for the 2026 budget «was already given to ACABQ some time ago and it will be impossible to change it at the present moment.» While Guterres said he would present revised proposals in September in time for budget approvals, he explained that «changes that require more detailed analysis will be presented in the proposal» for the 2027 budget.
Fox News Digital’s source says the admission is proof that «this whole attempt is a lie to appease the Americans so they don’t go harsh enough and cut anything right now.»
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres speaks at the ReutersNEXT Newsmaker event in New York City, New York, U.S. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
On May 13, Guterres addressed a letter to all U.N. staff about the need for «bold, transformative thinking» and extensive reforms to bring the U.N. out of its liquidity crisis. While expressing gratitude for employees’ «extraordinary dedication, expertise and creativity» he warned «that ‘leaks’ and rumours may create unnecessary anxiety,» Guterres said that «it will be inevitable that we cannot leave all posts untouched.»
After over three decades of working for the U.N., the source says they have «seen the U.N. attempt to change itself at least five times.» Instead, they said that the U.N. only got «a larger footprint.» They explained that other insiders «are fed up that the organization is not changing.»
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«You have…a super state that basically controls itself,» the source explained. «And you should also trust them to reorganize themselves?» they asked.
Whether the U.N. could hold out for promised change is unknown. The Economist reported in May that due to nonpayment of fees, the U.N. may run out of funds to pay its suppliers and employees by the General Assembly in September.
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Republican and Democratic congressional leaders left a meeting with President Donald Trump with no deal to avert a government shutdown as the deadline fast approaches.
Leaders met with Trump on Monday for roughly an hour to negotiate a path forward to avert a partial government shutdown, but it appeared neither side was willing to budge from their position.
Vice President JD Vance said after the meeting, «I think we’re headed into a shutdown because the Democrats won’t do the right thing. I hope they change their mind.»
«If you look at the original they did with this negotiation, it was a $1.5 trillion spending package, basically saying the American people want to give massive amounts of money, hundreds of billions of dollars to illegal aliens for their health care, while Americans are struggling to pay their health care bills,» Vance said. «That was their initial foray into this negotiation. We thought it was absurd.»
DEMS NOT BUDGING ON GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN DEMANDS AHEAD OF HIGH-STAKES TRUMP MEETING, JEFFRIES SUGGESTS
Vice President JD Vance, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought spoke to reporters after congressional leaders met with President Donald Trump on Sept. 29, 2025. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Democrats, however, have pushed back on assertions that they’re looking to salvage healthcare for anyone but the American people.
«There was a frank and direct discussion with the President of the United States and Republican leaders. But significant and meaningful differences remain,» Jeffries said. «Democrats are fighting to protect the health care of the American people, and we are not going to support a partisan Republican spending bill that continues to gut the health care of every day America, period.»
Congress has until midnight Oct. 1 to pass a short-term funding extension, or continuing resolution (CR), to avert a partial government shutdown. The House already passed a funding extension, but the bill was blocked in the Senate earlier this month.
Republicans and the White House want to move forward with their «clean,» short-term funding extension until Nov. 21, while Democrats have offered a counter-proposal that includes a permanent extension of expiring Obamacare tax credits and other wishlist items that are a bridge too far for the GOP.
Vance appeared alongside Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought in a show of Republican unity after the meeting, but made clear both sides are still far apart.
Thune, holding up a copy of the funding extension, panned Jeffries and Schumer’s accusation that the bill was partisan in nature.
Congressional Republicans argue that the House GOP’s is everything that Democrats pushed when they controlled the Senate: a «clean,» short-term extension to Nov. 21 without partisan policy riders or spending, save for millions in new spending for increased security for lawmakers.
SHUTDOWN EXPLAINED: WHO WORKS, WHO DOESN’T AND HOW MUCH IT COSTS
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., left, hold a news conference on the GOP reconciliation bill, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, June 11, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, file)
«To me, this is purely a hostage-taking exercise on the part of the Democrats,» Thune said. «We are willing to sit down and work with them on some of the issues they want to talk about, whether it’s an extension of premium tax credits, with reforms, we’re happy to have that conversation. But as of right now, this is a hijacking.»
Neither Schumer nor Jeffries took questions after their remarks, but appeared slightly more optimistic than their GOP counterparts after the meeting concluded.
«I think for the first time, the president heard our objections and heard why we needed a bipartisan bill,» Schumer said. «Their bill has not one iota of Democratic input. That is never how we’ve done this before.»
Vance said he was «highly skeptical» that it was Trump’s first time hearing the issue and said there was a bipartisan path forward on healthcare – but panned Democrats’ push to include an extension of COVID-19 pandemic-era Affordable Care Act (ACA) extensions in the bill.
«We want to work across the aisle to make sure that people have access to good healthcare,» he said, but added, «We are not going to let Democrats shut down the government and take a hostage unless we give them everything that they want. That’s not how the people’s government has ever worked.»
The meeting in the Oval Office comes after Trump canceled a previously scheduled confab last week with just Schumer and Jeffries. At the time, the president railed against their demands on his social media platform Truth Social and contended that congressional Democrats were pushing «radical Left policies that nobody voted for» in their counter-CR.
President Donald Trump speaks at a hearing of the Religious Liberty Commission at the Museum of the Bible, Monday, Sept. 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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Democrats’ demands center on an extension to expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, though their counter-proposal also included language to repeal the healthcare section of the GOP’s «big, beautiful bill» and a clawback of canceled NPR and PBS funding.
Senate Republicans have argued that Democrats’ desires are unserious, and Thune has publicly said that Republicans would be willing to have discussions on the ACA subsidies, which are set to sunset at the end of this year, after the government is funded.
Schumer insisted Democrats needed it addressed immediately, however, in a press conference back on Capitol Hill after the meeting.
«We think when they say later, they mean never. We have to do it now, first because of the timing issue and second, because now is the time we can get it done,» he said.
The White House is also leveraging the threat of mass firings should the government shut down that go beyond the standard furloughing of nonessential employees. Still, Schumer and Senate Democrats have not buckled.
The Senate is expected to vote again on the bill on Tuesday.
politics,house of representatives politics,government shutdown,senate,jd vance
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La reunión entre Trump y los líderes demócratas terminó sin acuerdo para evitar el cierre del Gobierno
La reunión entre los líderes demócratas del Congreso y el presidente estadounidense, Donald Trump finalizó este lunes sin que se alcanzara un entendimiento para tratar de evitar el cierre del Gobierno federal que se activaría a partir de este miércoles.
“Tenemos grandes diferencias en materia de salud y en su capacidad para revertir cualquier presupuesto que acordemos mediante rescisiones y embargos”, declaró a la prensa el líder de la minoría demócrata en el Senado, Chuck Schumer, al salir de la Oficina Oval de la Casa Blanca tras su reunión con el mandatario.
De acuerdo con los demócratas que asistieron a la reunión, se hizo ver a Trump “las consecuencias de lo que sucede en la atención médica al buscar recortes de seguros de salud”.
“Por su rostro, parecía que era la primera vez que escuchaba sobre este problema”, dijo Schumer a la prensa sobre la reacción del presidente durante el encuentro, en el que también estuvo el líder de la minoría demócrata en la Cámara de Representantes, Hakeem Jeffries, así como los líderes republicanos en la Cámara Alta y Baja, John Thune y Mike Johnson.
Por su parte, el vicepresidente estadounidense, J.D. Vance, dijo a medios al salir de la reunión: “Creo que nos encaminamos hacia un cierre porque los demócratas no harán lo correcto”.
En menos de dos días las expira el plazo para lograr un acuerdo de financiamiento para el Gobierno, y ambas partes insisten en señalar al opositor como responsable por no ceder.
Los demócratas exigen que se prorroguen los subsidios de la ley para el cuidado asequible de la salud (Obamacare) que expiran a final de año, así como la reversión de los recortes al programa Medicaid que resultaron de la gran ley de recortes presupuestarios y fiscales aprobada en julio pasado.
Sin embargo, los republicanos en el Congreso han dicho que aceptarán negociar ambos apartados solo si los demócratas dan su apoyo a un presupuesto provisional en una votación que tendría lugar mañana en el Senado y que mantendría el Gobierno operativo hasta noviembre.
Los republicanos presentaron el pasado 19 de septiembre ese presupuesto provisional en el Senado para su ratificación, pero este resultó rechazado porque su mayoría en la Cámara es insuficiente y requiere de al menos siete votos demócratas para la aprobación del proyecto de ley.
Al riesgo de una paralización del Gobierno federal se añade la posibilidad de despidos masivos de funcionarios públicos, según un memorando de la Oficina de Gestión y Presupuesto, que ha ordenado a las agencias que identifiquen programas clasificados como no esenciales para continuar su misión y reducir el personal federal.
Si el Congreso no toma medidas, miles de trabajadores del Gobierno federal podrían ser suspendidos, desde la NASA hasta los parques nacionales, y una amplia gama de servicios se verían interrumpidos.
Los tribunales federales podrían tener que cerrar y las subvenciones a las pequeñas empresas podrían retrasarse.
Los enfrentamientos presupuestarios se han convertido en algo relativamente rutinario en Washington en los últimos 15 años y a menudo se resuelven en el último minuto. Sin embargo, la voluntad de Trump de anular o ignorar las leyes de gasto aprobadas por el Congreso ha inyectado una nueva dimensión de incertidumbre.
Los demócratas han presentado un plan que prorrogaría la financiación actual entre siete y diez días, según fuentes del partido, lo que podría dar tiempo a alcanzar un acuerdo más duradero. Se trata de un plazo más corto que el respaldado por los republicanos, que ampliaría la financiación hasta el 21 de noviembre.
El líder republicano en el Senado, John Thune, trató de presionar a los demócratas programando una votación el martes sobre el proyecto republicano, que ya fracasó una vez en el Senado.
Ha habido 14 cierres parciales del Gobierno desde 1981, la mayoría de los cuales duraron solo unos días. El más reciente fue también el más largo, 35 días en 2018 y 2019 debido a una disputa sobre inmigración durante el primer mandato de Trump.
(Con información de EFE y Reuters)
Corporate Events,North America,Government / Politics,WASHINGTON
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