WASHINGTON – The United States Friday expressed "regret" at losing voting rights at UNESCO, two years after Washington and Israel stopped funding the UN cultural body over Palestinian admission. Congressional restrictions on US payment of UNESCO dues were triggered when the Palestinians gained membership to the Paris-based body as a state in 2011. "We regret that today the United States lost its vote in the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization [UNESCO] General Conference," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
 

In a statement, she however noted that "a loss of vote in the General Conference is not a loss of US membership," and said the United States intends to continue its active participation. Psaki said US President Barack Obama had asked Congress for "legislative authority to allow the United States to continue to pay its dues to UN agencies that admit the Palestinians as a member state when doing so is in the US national interest." [Link]