[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 676 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 676

 To reiterate the support of the Congress of the United States for the 
      North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 17, 2019

Mr. Panetta (for himself, Mr. Malinowski, Mr. Bacon, Mr. Hurd of Texas, 
 Mr. Upton, Mr. Kinzinger, Mr. Moulton, Ms. Spanberger, Ms. Houlahan, 
Mr. Gallagher, and Mr. Engel) introduced the following bill; which was 
              referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To reiterate the support of the Congress of the United States for 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 ``NATO Support 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 Atlantic 
        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.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the President shall not withdraw the United States from 
        NATO; and
            (2) the case Goldwater v. Carter is not controlling legal 
        precedent with respect to the 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, or to indirectly withdraw from NATO by condemning or 
        reducing contributions to NATO structures, activities, or 
        operations, in a manner that creates a de facto withdrawal;
            (3) to continue to work with NATO members to meet their 
        2014 Wales Defense Investment Pledge commitments; and
            (4) to support robust United States funding for the 
        European Deterrence Initiative, which increases the ability of 
        the United States and its allies to deter and defend against 
        Russian aggression.

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 Atlantic Treaty 
Organization.
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