Republicans took a courageous and principled stand when they defeated the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty three weeks ago. Now they need to show some political smarts, too. With the 2000 election campaign fast approaching, they should deprive the Clinton administration of one cheap, but sometimes effective, foreign policy debating point: the issue of U.S. dues to the United Nations.

In June the Senate passed legislation sponsored by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jesse Helms that would make funds available for paying U.S. arrears to the U.N. in exchange for implementation of stringent reforms in U.N. programs and management. The Helms legislation passed 97-2, and for good reason. For all the faults of the U.N., and for all the gamesmanship that has surrounded the issue of how to force reforms on it, Republicans and Democrats in fact agree that America should pay its bills. The U.N. was, after all, established under American leadership after World War II.