Cutting money for U.N. would harm U.S. power, former ambassadors warn

WASHINGTON — Nine former U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations on Tuesday warned against Trump administration plans to slash funding of the world body, portraying such a move as a grave danger to American power.

The ambassadors’ warning, contained in a letter to congressional leaders, came a day after President Donald Trump received members of the U.N. Security Council at the White House and gave them an undiplomatic lecture on what they’ve been doing wrong.

Trump has threatened to drastically reduce the sizable U.S. contribution to U.N. peacekeeping, health and other missions, which are made inefficient, as the president put it, by “bloat.”

Madeleine Albright, a former U.N. ambassador and the country’s first female secretary of state, said cutbacks at a time of numerous global crises would in fact weaken U.S. power and its position as a world leader.

“The United States needs to be doing more in the world, frankly, not less,” Albright said in a telephone briefing with reporters.

She was one of nine former ambassadors to the world body, from five Democratic and Republican administrations, who called on congressional leaders to resist the cuts Trump has outlined in budget proposals.

Albright said countries like Russia and China would be eager to fill any leadership void vacated by the United States.