[JURIST] By a vote of 221-184 the US House of Representatives has passed the United Nations Reform Act of 2005 [PDF text] calling for broad reforms at the UN and allowing the US to withold up to 50 percent of funding if reform goals are not met. Republican Congressman Henry Hyde [official website], chair of the House International Relations Committee, introduced the legislation in the House Tuesday. The Act alleges that the United Nations is rife with fraud and waste, citing the recent Oil-for-Food scandal [BBC timeline; JURIST news archive] as one example, and would permit the US to withold 50 percent of its UN dues based on what it perceives as poor performance in specific areas. Hyde denounced the current UN for its "gratuitous anti-Americanism" and castigated the UN Commission on Human Rights [official website] for allowing Cuba and the Sudan to "act as arbiters of human rights" despite their own troubling records. AP has more.