[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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