[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 94 (Thursday, June 7, 2018)]
[Senate]
[Page S3304]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 2377. Mr. PERDUE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to 
amendment SA 2282 submitted by Mr. Inhofe (for himself and Mr. McCain) 
and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 5515, to authorize 
appropriations for fiscal year 2019 for military activities of the 
Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense 
activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel 
strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was 
ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the end of subtitle G of title XII, add the following:

     SEC. 12__. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON INCREASES IN DEFENSE 
                   CAPABILITIES OF UNITED STATES ALLIES.

       Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) For over six decades, the North Atlantic Treaty 
     Organization (NATO) has been a successful intergovernmental, 
     political, and military alliance.
       (2) The collective defense of the North Atlantic Treaty 
     Organization acts as a deterrent to aggression in which the 
     alliance defends member countries (referred to in this 
     section as ``NATO allies'') against external security 
     threats.
       (3) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization strengthens the 
     security of the United States by using an integrated military 
     coalition.
       (4) While the Federation of Russia has continued to 
     threaten the sovereignty of countries in Europe and exhibit 
     threatening behavior toward the military assets of the United 
     States, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization sends a clear 
     collective message that the alliance will not tolerate 
     provocation by Russia.
       (5) Article 3 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that ``in 
     order more effectively to achieve the objectives of this 
     Treaty, the Parties, separately and jointly, by means of 
     continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid, will 
     maintain and develop their individual and collective capacity 
     to resist armed attack''.
       (6) The first defense-spending target of the North Atlantic 
     Treaty Organization was issued over 40 years ago in the 1977 
     NATO Ministerial Guidance, which set a 3 percent target for 
     growth in defense expenditures to answer the nearly three 
     times larger defense resource allocations of the Soviet 
     Union.
       (7) At the 2002 NATO Prague Summit, NATO allies entered 
     into a nonbinding agreement to raise defense spending to 2 
     percent of the gross domestic product of the member states to 
     meet the goals set forth in the Prague Capabilities 
     Commitment.
       (8) One month before the 2006 NATO Riga Summit, United 
     States ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 
     Victoria Nuland, called the 2 percent metric the ``unofficial 
     floor'' on defense spending in the North Atlantic Treaty 
     Organization.
       (9) At the 2006 NATO Riga Summit, NATO allies declared ``we 
     encourage nations whose defense spending is declining to halt 
     that decline and to aim to increase defense spending in real 
     terms''.
       (10) In 2008, at the NATO Bucharest Summit, NATO allies 
     reaffirmed their defense spending agreement.
       (11) In 2014, at the NATO Wales Summit, NATO allies 
     officially declared to increase their defense spending to 2 
     percent of their gross domestic product by 2024.
       (12) The Wales Summit Declaration stated, ``Allies 
     currently meeting the NATO guideline to spend a minimum of 2 
     percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defense will 
     aim to continue to do so. Likewise, Allies spending more than 
     20 percent of their defense budgets on major equipment, 
     including related Research & Development, will continue to do 
     so. Allies whose current proportion of GDP spent on defense 
     is below this level will: halt any decline in defense 
     expenditure; aim to increase defense expenditure in real 
     terms as GDP grows; aim to move towards the 2 percent 
     guideline within a decade with a view to meeting their NATO 
     Capability Targets and filling NATO's capability 
     shortfalls.''.
       (13) The 2016 Warsaw Summit Communique stated, ``Today, 
     five Allies meet the NATO guideline to spend a minimum of 2 
     percent of their Gross Domestic Product on defense. Ten 
     Allies meet the NATO guideline to spend more than 20 percent 
     of their defense budgets on major equipment, including 
     related Research & Development.''.
       (14) As of June 2018, 15 of the 29 NATO allies are expected 
     to reach the goal of spending two percent of gross domestic 
     product on defense by 2024.
       (15) It is the sense of Congress that the President, in 
     furtherance of increased unity, equitable sharing of the 
     common defense burden, and international stability, should--
       (A) encourage all NATO allies to fulfill their commitments 
     to levels and composition of defense expenditures as agreed 
     at the NATO 2014 Wales Summit and NATO 2016 Warsaw Summit;
       (B) call on NATO allies to finance, equip, and train their 
     armed forces to fulfill their national and regional security 
     interests; and
       (C) recognize NATO allies that are meeting their defense 
     spending commitments or otherwise providing adequately for 
     their national and regional security interests.
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