WASHINGTON (AP) – Culminating years of frustration with the performance and behaviour of the United Nations, the House voted yesterday to slash US contributions to the world body if it does not substantially change the way it operates.

The 221-184 vote, which came despite a Bush administration warning that such a move could actually sabotage reform efforts, was a strong signal from Congress that a policy of persuasion wasn’t enough to straighten out the UN.

“We have had enough waivers, enough resolutions, enough statements,” said House International Relations Committee Chairman Henry Hyde, the Republican author of the legislation. “It’s time we had some teeth in reform.”

The legislation would withhold half of US dues to the UN’s general budget if the organisation did not meet a list of demands for change. Failure to comply would also result in US refusal to support expanded and new peacekeeping missions.

Before becoming law, the legislation would have to be approved by the Senate and signed by President George W Bush. The Senate has no similar legislation pending and there has been little sentiment expressed for the kind of changes sought by Hyde. While opposing the Hyde bill, Bush has not threatened to veto it.

Just prior to the final vote, the House rejected, 216-190, an alternative offered by the top Democrat on the International Relations Committee, Tom Lantos, that also would have outlined US reforms but would have left it to the discretion of the secretary of state whether to withhold US payments.

During the two days of debate, legislators discussed the seating of such human rights abusers as Cuba and Sudan on the UN Commission on Human Rights and the oil-for-food programme that became a source of up to $10 billion (now worth euro8.2 billion) in illicit revenue for former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Jeff Fortenberry, a Republican, won backing for an amendment under which the United States would use its influence to ensure that any member engaged in acts of genocide or crimes against humanity would lose its UN membership and face arms and trade embargoes.

Hyde was joined by lawmakers with a litany of complaints against what they said was the UN’s lavish spending, its coddling of rogue regimes, its anti-America, anti-Israel bias and recent scandals such as the mismanagement of the oil-for-food programme in Iraq and the sexual misconduct of peacekeepers.

The administration on Thursday had urged the Republican-led House to reconsider the legislation. The administration said in a statement that it is actively engaged in UN reform, and the Hyde bill “could detract from and undermine our efforts”.

Eight former US ambassadors to the United Nations, including Madeleine Albright and Jeane Kirkpatrick, also weighed in, telling lawmakers in a letter that withholding of dues would “create resentment, build animosity and actually strengthen opponents of reform”.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed support earlier this week for another congressional effort to bring about UN reform. A task force led by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a Republican, and former Senate Majority leader George Mitchell, a Democrat, recommended such changes as setting up an independent auditing board and weighted voting on financial issues for members who contribute more to the budget.