WATCH: Stefanik says U.S. should leverage funding to influence the UN | Trump confirmation hearings

Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., President Donald Trump’s nominee to be ambassador to the U.N., said Tuesday in her confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the U.S. should leverage funding to reform UN programs.

Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., asked Stefanik if she believed change could be accomplished through the U.S. promising funding in exchange for transparency, and withdrawing funding without it.

“Absolutely,” Stefanik replied. “We owe that to American taxpayers to ensure that all of our dollars and investment represent our values.”

Stefanik, a loyal ally to Trump, is chair of the House Republican Conference, and was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress when she won her seat in 2014. While she has little foreign policy experience, Stefanik has been vocal about Israel and its war with Hamas. She has called for a “complete reassessment” of the U.S.’s funding for the U.N.

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