Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday that he has called on U.S. President George W. Bush and Congressional leaders to drop their spending cap on UN peacekeeping, noting that the limited funding creates "very difficult constraints in smoothly carrying out peacekeeping operations."

"The US Government is the largest financial contributor to the regular budget, as well as the peacekeeping operations budget. The US Congress has imposed a cap of 25 percent in peacekeeping operations...I have raised this issue in my meetings with President Bush and all the Congressional leaders. I strongly appealed and requested that the US Congress lift this spending cap...They said they will discuss this matter." More

For a transcript of Ban's remarks to the press, click here.