(As Prepared for Delivery)

Mr. Chairman, Senators: Thank you for this opportunity to appear before your committee today. I would like to welcome all of you to New York. I am deeply honored to be the lead witness in this unprecedented "field hearing" of your committee, and look forward to discussing with all of you how, together, we can move forward to advance U.S. interests at the United Nations, and make the UN a more effective institution.

As I stated during my confirmation hearings last June, and expressed again the last time I had the privilege to appear before you in November, I believe that close consultations with the Congress are essential. U.S. national interests are best served when the Executive Branch and Congress work in a bipartisan spirit. I particularly appreciate the close relationship that has developed between members of this committee and myself and my team here in New York. Your trip here is only a beginning for an enhanced partnership between the committee and the U.S. Mission to the U.N., as well as for the U.S.-UN relationship overall.

Since the passage of the Helms-Biden legislation three months ago, the United States' relationship with the United Nations has undergone a dramatic, critical transformation. Mr. Chairman, yesterday's Security Council meeting, and today's special "field hearing" opens a new beginning for the U.S.-UN relations. As we heard from many of my fellow Permanent Representatives yesterday, for the UN to succeed. American leadership is essential. To my mind, there is no better example of the imperative for American leadership in the UN than this month's focus on Africa. Already, we've placed a new security focus on the scourge of AIDS and its effects on fomenting instability, addressed the plight of refugees and IDPs, pressed for peace in Angola and heard from former President Mandela on his vision for reconciliation in Burundi. And this weekend, seven presidents from states involved in the Congo conflict will come to New York for Monday's Security Council meeting on the next steps for peace there. Secretary Albright will preside over Monday's meeting, and negotiations will continue throughout the week.

Mr. Chairman, I'd like to echo something you said yesterday during your historic speech in the Security Council: All of us -- the Clinton Administration, the Congress, and most important, the American people want the United Nations to succeed. Your committee's presence here in New York symbolizes our agreement on one essential point: that the UN, despite its significant flaws, remains a vital tool for advancing U.S. national security interests. As they might say downtown from here, on Wall Street, the UN is "net-net" for the United States. If the UN did not exist, we would have to invent it.

This fact is clear today around the globe. During the past five months, I have been to every major arena of current UN activity -- Bosnia and Kosovo, East Timor, and Africa. I have seen first-hand the critical role the UN plays in each of these places: helping rebuild Bosnia and Kosovo and assisting their people in regaining a sense of normalcy and dignity; maintaining stability and supporting the rehabilitation process in East Timor; and sheltering refugees and feeding the hungry in desperate places like Angola. These are vital tasks that no single nation could -- nor should -- do on its own.

The UN also remains essential to addressing problems that threaten the interests of every UN member -- problems like environmental degradation, terrorism, arms proliferation, and the scourge of diseases like AIDS.

And finally, the UN plays a critical political role in advancing freedom and democracy. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were only a handful of countries with governments elected by the people (and there were none elected on the basis of universal suffrage). Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, there are over 100 countries with democratically elected governments. The UN has played a vital part in making this true. Mr. Chairman, as you reminded us yesterday, these ideals -- freedom of speech and faith; rule of law, not force; and government of the people, by the people, and for the people -- are not just UN ideals; these are inalienable, fundamental American ideals. And having the UN work toward them is in America's interest.

That being said, we cannot, we will not, turn a blind-eye to the UN's significant problems and inefficiencies. Those UN supporters who regard criticism of the UN as criticism of the idea of the UN are profoundly mistaken. Those of us who care about the UN and believe in its great potential -- those of us like you, Mr. Chairman, President Clinton, Secretary Albright and myself, along with most members of Congress, and every member of this committee -- have an obligation to be honest and acknowledge that in many ways, the UN system is flawed. We owe it to ourselves and we owe it to this organization. Since I first appeared before you during my confirmation hearings, I have been clear that UN reform would be my highest sustained priority. I intend to keep it that way.

Mr. Chairman, this meeting speaks volumes about our shared commitment to address these flaws and help the UN work better. Only two months ago, we made an important step in this direction: the Congress passed the landmark Helms-Biden legislation. With this accomplishment, we have started moving forward to tackle the tough reform issues. As Secretary General Annan himself has noted, and as several members of the Security Council repeated yesterday, UN reform is a "process" not an event -- and there is no doubt that the reform process will be arduous.

That is why we are so grateful for this committee's support and that of your colleagues in the Congress. Coming to New York, joining us here at the United Nations and having the opportunity to meet with representatives of our fellow member nations, helps provide a sense of the immense challenge we all face. It is imperative that we build a broad coalition of members in support of a positive reform agenda. For our part, I am fortunate to have as part of my team the indefatigable Ambassador Don Hays, who has already met with over 80 of our fellow Permanent Representatives to discuss our reform objectives.

Mr. Chairman, our reform agenda at the UN is designed, as you put it in your speech yesterday, to strengthen the UN's ability to serve the purpose for which it was created. This agenda includes meaningful structural reforms such as those outlined in the Helms-Biden legislation, including progress in results based budgeting, better program evaluation and sunset provisions. We also insist that the UN adheres to budget discipline -- and this year, following some difficult negotiations, we succeeded in getting the UN to maintain a stable budget. Last fall, the United States finally returned to its rightful place on the UN's expert committee on the budget, the ACABQ. We're also insisting that the scale of assessments process is made more equitable, and have launched a comprehensive strategy to overhaul the scale to reflect 21st century realities.

Mr. Chairman, let me be clear: when we insist that the UN create a better management system; when we insist for sunset clauses for committees that are now irrelevant (like the Committee on Decolonization); when we insist for reform or the personnel system and for more transparency; when we insist that the UN get its act together on peacekeeping, we do so to strengthen the UN -- not weaken it. At times, we have honest disagreements with the UN. But that does not diminish our fundamental commitment to the UN and what it stands for -- common solutions to common problems. Fifteen years ago, President Reagan expressed a sentiment that I believe remains true today: "We believe in the United Nations and what it symbolizes," he said. "We have never stopped believing in its possibilities, and we've never stopped taking the United Nations seriously."