Does H.R. 193 mean United States is pulling out of UN? FACT CHECK

Rumours are spreading that the bill H.R. 193 – dubbed the American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2017 – is being “quietly” passed into law that would result in the United States leaving the U.N.

Various incarnations of this rumour link this to newly elected President Trump’s stance on foreign policy.

It is true that such a bill exists. Introduced at the start of the year on January 3rd 2017 by Republican senator Mike Rogers from Alabama, the bill summary boldly states the aim is to – “end membership of the United States in the United Nations”

However, it is important to note that similar bills (and by similar, we mean almost identical) with the same title have been introduced a number of times at the start of each congress dating back to 1997, and in each case not one of them was bought to vote in either the House of Representatives or the Senate.

For a bill to become law, the bill has to pass through the US House of Representatives, the US Senate and get presidential approval (except in cases when a presidential veto can be overridden.) However in each case, these bills – all dubbed the American Sovereignty Restoration Act – are referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where they stay, without ever being voted on. And this is what has happened to H.R. 193 (which has nothing to do with President Trump.)

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This essentially means the bills amount to nothing more than what could be considered a protest bill, initiated by politicians who would like to see United States leave the UN. During the 2015-2016 Congress, the same version of the bill – this time under the name H.R. 1205 was introduced (sponsored) by the same politician – Mike Rogers, and just like previous incarnations, was resigned to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, where according to the Congress.gov website, it stayed.

Before that, the American Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2013 – introduced at the start of 2013 only this time sponsored by Republican Senator Paul Broun from Georgia – had a similar fate.

And again previous incarnations of the bill – many introduced by Senator Ron Paul – also went down this road, without ever being voted on.

Given the repetitive and inevitable fate of these bills, they hardly garner any mainstream media attention. However given the divisive controversy over the latest presidential election, the 2017-2018 version of this bill seems to have many concerned.

However it is likely that this concern (at least in respect to this specific bill) is unwarranted. While we cannot say what President Donald Trump or the 115th Congress will do regarding the United States involvement with the UN, it is unlikely that this latest incarnation of the same bill that has been in purgatory for around 20 years will be used as the instrument for any change.