After prolonged negotiations, the U.S. and the UN negotiated an agreement whereby the United States would pay a large part of the money it owes, and in exchange the UN would reduce the assessment rate ceiling from 25% to 22%. The reduction in the assessment rate ceiling was among the reforms contained in the United Nations Reform Act of 1999 or Helms-Biden Act, which links payment of $926 million in U.S. arrears to the UN and other international organizations to a series of reform benchmarks.[citation needed]