WASHINGTON – Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, co-chairs of the Task Force on the United Nations, are scheduled to testify before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Science, State, Justice and Commerce (SSJC) on Wednesday, June 22 at 10 a.m. in Room 2359 Rayburn House Office Building. SSJC Chairman Frank R. Wolf (R-VA), who authored the legislation mandating the report, will preside.

Gingrich and Mitchell will discuss the findings and recommendations of the task force report, which was released on June 15. The report assesses UN efforts to meet the goals of its charter and offers an actionable agenda for Congress to strengthen the United Nations, including recommendations on internal UN management reform, halting genocide, and abolishing the Human Rights Commission. It notes that without a renewed and more effective United Nations, the challenges to international security, development, and well-being will be all the greater. The bipartisan task force, comprised of prominent experts, distinguished practitioners, and business leaders representing a wide range of opinion, issued its consensus report, “in the firm belief that an effective UN is in American interests.” A copy of the report is available at www.usip.org.

The U.S. Institute of Peace coordinated the task force with the support and participation of leading public policy organizations, including the American Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institution, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Heritage Foundation, and the Hoover Institution. Each of these institutions provided experts to support the members of the task force.

For additional information about the hearing, please contact Dan Scandling in the Office of Congressman Frank Wolf at (202) 225-5136. For additional information about the Task Force on the United Nations (including a complete list of task force members and experts) or about the U.S. Institute of Peace, please visit www.usip.org/un or contact Iris Pilika at (202) 429-3828 or at ipilika@usip.org.