← Videos · Foreign Policy & Defense

Waltz Testifies at a House Appropriations Field Hearing on UN Oversight and Reform, Mar. 20, 2026

March 20, 2026 · PBS NewsHour · 2:03:26

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

Ambassador Mike Waltz testified on March 20, 2026, before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs at an oversight field hearing held at the United States Mission to the United Nations in New York, on U.S. efforts to strengthen oversight and accountability of the U.N., according to C-SPAN’s description of the hearing. PBS NewsHour carried the hearing in full. It was Waltz’s first appearance before Congress since taking the helm at the U.S. Mission, according to the Better World Campaign’s account of the hearing.

“I tell my colleagues at the UN all the time: Congress is watching very closely,” Waltz told lawmakers, adding that “the UN needs to get back to basics — maintaining international peace and security,” according to the Better World Campaign. Subcommittee Chairman Mario Díaz-Balart said oversight of American tax dollars is “non-negotiable” and pointed to double-digit cuts to U.N. funding paired with stronger accountability requirements, according to the subcommittee. Ranking Member Lois Frankel offered the attributed counterpoint, warning that cuts in funding and delays in payments to the U.N. system cede influence to adversaries, according to the House Appropriations Democrats’ account.

Why it matters

This field hearing is where Waltz’s reform campaign met the appropriators who fund it: his case that congressional scrutiny strengthens his hand in New York, and the bipartisan terms — results and accountability from supporters, engagement and credibility warnings from critics — on which U.N. funding now moves through Congress.

Scoreboard watch

This is a candidate item for the weekly scoreboard: the U.N. funding and accountability terms aired at the March 20, 2026 field hearing — funding cuts already enacted, stronger accountability requirements, and Ambassador Waltz’s oversight commitments — to be checked against subsequent appropriations and U.S. Mission reporting.

Sources: House Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs field hearing, March 20, 2026 (full hearing as carried by PBS NewsHour, embedded above); C-SPAN hearing description; House Committee on Appropriations, Chairman Díaz-Balart’s remarks; Better World Campaign and House Appropriations Democrats accounts of the hearing. All figures and characterizations as stated by Ambassador Waltz and committee members at the hearing.