Alan Grayson adds amendment to get U.N. to hire Americans

Talk about stopping the export of jobs: U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson has added an amendment to a likely to pass bill that seeks to get the United Nations to hire more Americans.

Citing U.N. data, Grayson’s office argued that the United States pays 22 percent of the international organization’s budget; yet only 6 percent of New York-based organization’s employees are Americans.

Grayson’s amendment was included in the Department of State Authorities Act for Fiscal Year 2017, Senate Bill 1635, which was approved by the U.S. House of Representatives by a 374-16 vote on Monday might.

According to a press release from Grayon’s congressional office, the amendment calls on the U.S. Secretary of State to issue an annual report on whether the United Nations Secretariat and its supported agencies are “taking good faith steps to increase the staffing of United States citizens,” as well as assessing what “additional steps the organization could be taking to increase such staffing.”

The bill would apply to United Nations agencies, not just its headquarters. Grayson’s office stated that if the U.N. hired a proportional share of Americans based on funding, 12,000 more jobs would go to Americans.

Senate Bill 1635 was approved by the U.S. Senate in April. But that version did not have Grayson’s amendment nor other amendments added by the house Monday. So the amended bill must go back to the senate for approval before heading to the White House.

“The United Nations building is the only place within the U.S. border where you might find an implicit sign saying: ‘Americans not welcome,’” Grayson said. “Given the massive amount of funding we provide, the UN should hire more U.S. workers. This amendment will accomplish that goal.”

His office touted it as the 121st amendment he had successfully passed, and it will be one of his last. Grayson, a three-term Democrat from Orlando, leaves office Jan. 3.