WASHINGTON, June 5: A move to have the United States withdrawn from the United Nations was defeated by the US House of representatives on Wednesday but 54 legislators supported the measure, reports AFP.

Legislators spent more than an hour debating the wisdom of continued US membership in the United Nations after Republican representative Ron Paul of Texas sponsored an amendment to the Foreign Relations Authorisation Act that would withdraw the United States from the world body.

The move was defeated 369-54.

"Our constitution doesn't give us the authority to sell our sovereignty to an international body." Paul said, reflecting the increasingly anti-UN sentiments of many Americans.

Republicans have so far balked at President Bill Clintons attempt to repay US ar-rearsjo the United Nations.

The United Nations- says the United iStates owes about 1.5 billion dollars in arrears. The figure is disputed bv the Clinton administration and the Republican-controlled Congress, which both have offered lower estimates ranging from 800 million to one Billion dollars.

Congress's decision in 1995 to unilaterally cut from 25 per cent to 20 per cent the US contribution to the UN peacekeeping budget is largely responsible for current US arrears.

While it was defeated. Paul's measure won support of many conservatives, especially from southern and rural areas of the country.

Republicans and Democrats alike urged lawmakers to give UN reforms a chance.

Democrat Alcee Hastings of Florida said he and other representatives had recently travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo and only got there thanks to a UN plane.

And he argued that UN efforts in Angola . 'have saved millions of dollars and kept the peace" there.