Send email to design@mota-nh.org with questions or comments about this web site. Content copyright © 2003 - 2012 Manufactured Home Owners & Tenants Association of New Hampshire - Last modified: 03/02/2012 Website management, layout & design © 1998-2012 WMBaird all rights reserved.    These symbols or the letters (PDF) indicate that the document is in Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format. To view PDF files, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader which is available for free from Adobe at : DISCLAIMER: Even though we have reasonably inspected every advertiser, Manufactured Home Owners & Tenants Association of New Hampshire and WMBaird does not accept any  responsibility, whatsoever, for the content or legality of any product, program, service, or business opportunity advertised.  It is the responsibility of the advertisers (Ad Sponsors) to check and  abide by the local, state, federal and international laws pertaining to the programs, products, services or business opportunities they advertise. Please use your own judgment and caution when  applying to or for any opportunity that is placed in this Ezine. The weather in Concord, New Hampshire Mota-Vator - Online Newsletter Local, Regional and National News The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee passed Oct. 13 a reform proposal that would significantly slash U.S.  funding to the United Nations if the global body fails to implement sweeping reforms, including shifting to a  voluntary funding basis for its regular budget.  H.R. 2829, or the U.N. Transparency, Accountability, and Reform Act, was approved by the Republican-led  committee with a 23-15 vote despite pressure from top administration officials and leading U.S. aid groups, who  argued the measure would undermine U.S. leadership in the international community. The proposal, which was introduced by House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-  Fla.), requires the United States to withhold 50 percent of its nonvoluntary regular budget contributions to the  United Nations if, after two years, less than 80 percent of the U.N. regular budget is funded on a voluntary basis.  A voluntary funding structure of the U.N. regular budget would allow the United States and other U.N.-member  states to pressure the global body to implement badly needed reforms, supporters of the measure argued. “We will never achieve lasting, sweeping reforms if the U.S. keeps paying in full what the U.N. dictates to us, with  no consequences for the U.N.’s failures,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “A shift to voluntary funding will help end the U.N.’s  entitlement culture, forcing it to perform better and cut costs in order to justify its funding.”  Leading U.S. aid groups and foreign aid supporters, however, stressed the proposal is not the best way to press  for reform at the United Nations.  “The anti-U.N. legislation passed today is counterproductive to an effective relationship between the United  States and the United Nations,” Better World Campaign head Timothy Wirth said. “This bill would degrade our  leadership and end the decades-long work of Republican and Democratic administrations to successfully work  within the U.N. system to advance American national security, political and economic interests.”  Wirth further noted that approval of the reform proposal goes “against the will of the American people,” citing the  results of a recent opinion poll showing the majority of the U.S. public opposes the measure. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reiterated the American government’s commitment in upholding women’s welfare. “Three major foreign policy initiatives illustrate our commitment,” Clinton said during the 54th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. “These initiatives amount to more than an assortment of programs designed with women in mind. They reflect a fundamental shift in U.S. policy, one that is taking place in offices across Washington and in our embassies around the globe.” For one, the U.S. government’s USD63 billion global health initiative seeks to decrease maternal and child mortality as well as increase access to family planning services. “We are focusing first on those people whose health has the biggest impact on families and communities – women and girls,” Clinton stressed.