US Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz and Ambassador for UN Management and Reform Jeffrey Bartos appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday to defend the Trump administration's sweeping restructuring of the United Nations — a campaign that has delivered what officials describe as the largest budget reduction in the organisation's history, cutting more than $1.1 billion from UN budgets and eliminating 4,000 civilian headquarters positions.

Scale of the Overhaul

According to Waltz, the administration worked with member states over the past six months to achieve what he called the first overall budget reduction in the UN's 80-year history. Bartos put the precise figure at $1.1 billion across the regular and peacekeeping budgets, calling it 'historic reform.'

Beyond the budget, the restructuring has reduced global peacekeeping deployments by 25 per cent and ended several missions that officials say failed to meet their mandates. Among those singled out was the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), which Waltz said 'needs to stand down.'

Bartos also highlighted changes to the peacekeeping equipment reimbursement system. Previously, troop-contributing countries could receive payments for deploying equipment regardless of whether it was operational. Under the new rules, 'to get reimbursed you have to put the equipment into use. It has to be used. It has to be working. It has to be effective,' Bartos said, estimating annual savings of roughly $30 million.

What the Administration Said

'We are getting the United Nations back to basics, back to maintaining the peace and maintaining security around the world,' Waltz told lawmakers. He argued the organisation had expanded well beyond its founding mandate: 'The UN has tried to become all things to all people and has literally done nothing but grow.'

Waltz also said the 4,000 eliminated positions included personnel accused of sexual exploitation and abuse, framing the cuts as both fiscal and ethical reform. In his closing remarks, he declared: 'Our charge is to make the UN great again,' adding that American taxpayers — who fund 25 per cent of the UN's bill — deserve measurable outcomes.

Republican Support, Democratic Pushback

Republican lawmakers largely backed the administration's position. Committee Chairman Brian Mast described the UN as 'a corrupt, entrenched den of snakes' and argued that American taxpayers should not finance programmes that fail to advance US interests.

Democratic members sharply contested that view. Ranking Member Gregory Meeks warned that aggressive funding cuts risked ceding influence to rivals, particularly China, in international institutions. 'This is not reform. This is retreat,' Meeks said, accusing the administration of abandoning multilateral engagement rather than improving it.

Broader Context

The United States has historically been the largest financial contributor to the UN, covering a significant share of both the regular budget and peacekeeping operations. Multiple administrations have called for greater accountability and management reform, though they have differed sharply on how aggressively to pursue those changes. The Trump administration has made UN reform a central pillar of its foreign policy, explicitly tying American funding to performance benchmarks, reduced bureaucracy, and alignment with US strategic interests.

With the reforms now before Congress for scrutiny, the administration's next challenge will be demonstrating that the cuts have improved — rather than diminished — the UN's operational effectiveness on the ground.