[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6530 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6530

  To prohibit the use of funds to withdraw the United States from the 
      North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 25, 2018

Mr. Panetta (for himself and Mr. Knight) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition 
  to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit the use of funds to withdraw the United States from the 
      North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``No NATO Withdrawal Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that:
            (1) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which 
        came into being through the North Atlantic Treaty, which 
        entered into force on April 4, 1949, between the United States 
        of America and the other founding members of the North American 
        Treaty Organization, has served as a pillar of international 
        peace and stability, a critical component of United States 
        security, and a deterrent against adversaries and external 
        threats.
            (2) The House of Representatives affirmed in H. Res. 397, 
        on June 27, 2017, that--
                    (A) ``NATO is one of the most successful military 
                alliances in history, deterring the outbreak of another 
                world war, protecting the territorial integrity of its 
                members, and seeing the Cold War through to a peaceful 
                conclusion'';
                    (B) NATO remains the foundation of United States 
                foreign policy to promote a Europe that is whole, free, 
                and at peace;
                    (C) the United States is solemnly committed to the 
                North Atlantic Treaty Organization's principle of 
                collective defense as enumerated in Article 5 of the 
                North Atlantic Treaty; and
                    (D) the House of Representatives--
                            (i) strongly supports the decision at the 
                        NATO Wales Summit in 2014 that each alliance 
                        member would aim to spend at least 2 percent of 
                        its nation's gross domestic product on defense 
                        by 2024;
                            (ii) condemns any threat to the 
                        sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom and 
                        democracy of any NATO ally; and
                            (iii) welcomes the Republic of Montenegro 
                        as the 29th member of the NATO Alliance.
            (3) On July 12, 2018, Speaker Ryan stated that ``NATO is 
        indispensable. It is as important today as it ever has been.''.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the President shall not unilaterally withdraw the 
        United States from NATO; and
            (2) the case Goldwater v. Carter is not controlling legal 
        precedent with respect to the unilateral withdrawal of the 
        United States from a treaty.

SEC. 4. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States--
            (1) to remain a member in good standing of NATO;
            (2) to reject any efforts to withdraw the United States 
        from NATO, either directly or through condemnation of the 
        organization; and
            (3) to continue to work with NATO members to ensure each 
        country spends at least 2 percent of its gross domestic product 
        on defense spending, at least 20 percent of which should be for 
        procurement.

SEC. 5. PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF FUNDS TO WITHDRAW FROM NATO.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no funds are authorized 
to be appropriated, obligated, or expended to take any action to 
withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, done at 
Washington, DC on April 4, 1949, between the United States of America 
and the other founding members of the North American Treaty 
Organization.

SEC. 6. REPORT ON THE MILITARY AND SECURITY RAMIFICATIONS OF NATO.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Secretary of 
Defense, in concurrence with the Secretary of State, shall submit to 
the appropriate congressional committees a report that includes each of 
the following:
            (1) The number of NATO forces committed to operations in 
        which the United States participates.
            (2) The number of NATO forces killed in the previous year 
        during the course of such operations.
            (3) An assessment of the impact on United States readiness 
        in the event that the Armed Forces were required to fill 
        positions vacated by NATO as a result of the withdrawal of the 
        United States from that organization.
            (4) A description of defense spending levels of NATO member 
        states tracing the trajectory over the last five years and 
        future projections.
    (b) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be submitted 
in unclassified form but may contain a classified annex.
    (c) Appropriate Congressional Committees.--In this section, the 
term ``appropriate congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on 
        Armed Services, the Committee on Appropriations, and the 
        Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of 
        Representatives; and
            (2) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on 
        Armed Services, the Committee on Appropriations, and the Select 
        Committee on Intelligence of the Senate.
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