[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 61 (Wednesday, April 10, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2678-S2679]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  NATO

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, last week, the strongest and most 
successful military alliance in the history of the world marked an 
impressive milestone. Seventy-five years ago, at the dawn of the Cold 
War, with decades of superpower competition on the horizon, the 
founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization convened 
here in Washington to formalize a commitment to collective security.
  In the years since, NATO has grown from 12 to 32 allies. The 
transatlantic alliance has always required management. Alliances always 
do. But, as Churchill observed, the only thing worse than fighting 
alongside allies is fighting without them.
  While we have experienced periods of pronounced tension within the 
alliance, today is not one of them. Nations on both sides of the 
Atlantic have increasingly concluded that common threats are best met 
with shared resolve.
  Most recently, of course, the alliance has been proud to welcome 
Sweden and Finland to our ranks. With highly capable militaries and 
advanced economies, our newest allies were already taking their own 
defense seriously. In the face of Putin's brutal escalation in Ukraine, 
they decided to share the burden of collective security.
  But Russian aggression hasn't just expanded the NATO alliance; it has 
also prompted longtime allies to take their treaty obligations more 
seriously. Just last week, the Norwegian Government confirmed that it 
would meet the NATO 2-percent defense spending target this year and 
that it would nearly double its defense budget over the next 12. For a 
wealthy country like Norway, with one of the highest per capita GDPs in 
the world, this is a big deal. Across the alliance, members are making 
historic new commitments to strengthen their militaries and expand 
their defense industrial capacity. European allies have contracted to 
buy 600 cutting-edge American F-35 aircraft to add to their arsenals. 
On the whole, they are already meeting the 2-percent target, and NATO 
leaders expect more individual members to reach it by the July summit 
here in Washington.
  There is still work to be done. Not every ally is taking its treaty 
obligations seriously enough. One of the most concerning laggards isn't 
even a European country, but it is our neighbor to

[[Page S2679]]

the north. Like America, Canada is at once an Atlantic, Pacific, and 
Arctic nation, and it is time for Ottawa to take its obligations to 
NATO, to NORAD, and to its own defense more seriously.
  That said, for our European allies, the holiday from history really 
is over. Their greater investments in collective defense also include 
growing contributions to Ukraine's defense. In fact, 18 countries are 
making larger relative contributions to helping Ukraine resist Russian 
aggression than the United States. Of course, this doesn't absolve 
America from playing a leading role. America is the glue that keeps the 
alliance together. We are a critical catalyst of allied contributions. 
Nations all over the world look to Washington for guidance.
  From before Russian forces even advanced in February of 2022, I have 
urged the Biden administration to quit its hand-wringing and hesitation 
over delivering Ukraine the lethal tools it needed to defend itself. 
The President's unfounded fear of escalation deprived our friends of 
the advanced, long-range capabilities they needed to make a more 
decisive stand against Putin sooner. Avoidable supply shortages 
continue to prevent Ukraine from taking the fight to Russia across the 
frontlines.
  The conflict is at a critical moment, and it is exactly the wrong 
time for folks on our side of the aisle to imitate and compound the 
timidity and shortsightedness of our Commander in Chief, which he 
displayed from the outset of the conflict.
  The vast majority of armed conflicts end in negotiated settlements, 
but whenever and however this particular conflict is resolved, it is in 
America's interests that Ukraine operate from a position of strength.
  Our own security, the security of our closest allies and most 
important trading partners, the credibility of America's commitments--
none of these interests are served by withholding assistance to Ukraine 
or withholding urgent investments in the sort of industrial capacity 
and capabilities that both our friends and our Armed Forces need.
  Starving Ukraine of needed capabilities wasn't the smart way for the 
Biden administration to avoid escalation, and neither is it a political 
masterstroke by some of the administration's Republican opponents. It 
is strategic and moral malpractice that risks dooming Ukraine and 
undermining our own national interests.
  From Europe, to the Middle East, to the Indo-Pacific, the world is 
watching to see whether the United States still has a will to lead the 
West and preserve the international order responsible for our own 
prosperity for the better part of a century.
  So I will continue to urge our House colleagues to take up and pass 
the national security supplemental without delay.