UNITED NATIONS — As a result of this year’s switch in the majority party of both houses of Congress and the change of leadership at the United Nations, some Democrats have said they intend to raise budgets for the international body, even as other legislators characterize adding funds to America’s contribution, the largest of all U.N. members, as rewarding “mediocrity.”

Senator Biden, a Democrat of Delaware and the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, vowed yesterday to lift a self-imposed cap on American funding for U.N. peacekeeping operations to enable the United Nations to better deal with conflict in such places as Darfur. Ironically, the peacekeeping cap is part of a 1990s bill known as the Helms-Biden Act.

Mr. Biden, who is seeking his party’s presidential nomination, also said that, if elected president, he would send American troops to Sudan to end what the Bush administration has called the genocide in Darfur. So while U.N. detractors in Congress cite abuses by U.N. peacekeepers, supporters such as Mr. Biden argue that if America demands a larger role for U.N. peacekeeping in places like Darfur, it should pay its dues in full.

Mr. Biden’s statements came as he visited New York for meetings with Secretary-General Ban and some key diplomats. His delegation also included Senate Foreign Relations Committee members Senator Cardin, a Democrat of Maryland; Senator Corker, a Republican of Tennessee, and Senator Coleman, a Republican of Minnesota.

The United Nations has called on America to pay 26.0863% of the U.N. annual peacekeeping budget of $5 billion. Congress, however, is currently barred from paying more than 25%, leaving the peacekeeping budget $100 million short of its stated needs.

“I’m attempting to lift the cap,” Mr. Biden told The New York Sun during a briefing to reporters after his meeting with Mr. Ban yesterday. “What we are attempting to do is move to 27%.”

Congress had imposed the 25% restriction in 1999 as part of the Helms-Biden Act, which ended a decade-long standoff with the United Nations over American arrears. America’s share of the U.N. budget in 2007 amounted to $1.269 billion and is expected to rise to $1.4 billion next year, even if the 25% cap on peacekeeping operations remains.

Republicans did not rush to embrace an unconditional lifting of the limit yesterday.

“Part of today was actually asking questions about reforms, asking questions about the United Nations being more relevant in solving some issues in Darfur, in Kosovo, in Lebanon, and talking about the Gaza Strip,” Mr. Corker told the Sun. “So part of me being here today was to be able to actually make those kinds of judgments.”

According to Mr. Biden, America currently owes $113 million to the United Nations. State Department and congressional sources say there are several components to this debt, including scheduling differences between the budget calendars of America and the United Nations and currency differences resulting from payments to Geneva-based operations that are assessed in Swiss francs that have decreased as the dollar’s worth has fallen in world markets. America also refuses to finance operations such as a “Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People” in the U.N. General Assembly. But the largest difference between America and the United Nations is over the peacekeeping assessment.

When asked about Mr. Biden’s proposed legislation to remove restrictions on American dues, Mr. Corker said, “Certainly, while I appreciate the comments made today, they in no way represent the views of all of us here.”

“Permanently lifting the cap on U.S. contributions in the absence of broad management reform can easily be interpreted as rewarding the mediocrity, procurement corruption, and criminality that continues to plague some vital U.N. missions,” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, a Republican of Florida, wrote in an e-mail to the Sun.

“Americans are anxious to see substantial progress on long-needed management reform and improvements in the conduct, discipline, and accountability of U.N. peacekeeping before Congress okays any increase in funding,” Ms. Ros-Lehtinen, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, added.