[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 12, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3221-S3223]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
NATO Summit
Mrs. SHAHEEN. Mr. President, I am really pleased to be able to come
to the floor this morning to join my colleagues Senator Tillis, from
North Carolina; Senator Ernst, from Iowa; Senator Blunt, from
Missouri--and we are hoping to be joined by Senator Coons, from
Delaware--to talk about the very successful congressional delegation we
took in the first week of the 2-week break to Finland, Sweden, and the
NATO summit in Madrid.
I want to especially acknowledge my colead for that delegation,
Senator Tillis. He and I cochaired the Senate NATO Observer Group. And
we have both been fervent supporters of NATO and efforts to ensure that
the United States continues to be a leader on the world stage and a
champion for freedom.
We were also joined on that trip by Senator Durbin, from Illinois,
and Senator Fischer, from Nebraska.
A couple of months ago, Majority Leader Schumer and Minority Leader
McConnell asked Senator Tillis and I to lead that bipartisan delegation
to the NATO summit in Madrid to convey the Senate's strong bipartisan
support for the alliance, especially amid Putin's unprovoked war in
Ukraine.
I was very honored to represent the Senate amid what has been one of
the most consequential moments in the history of the transatlantic
alliance. And I think probably Senator Tillis and everyone who was part
of that delegation felt the same way.
Our visit to Sweden, Finland, and Spain affirmed three important
points: first, the NATO alliance is stronger than ever before--and this
year's historic summit reaffirmed that; second, the Strategic Concept
that was approved at this year's summit will ensure that NATO is
prepared to address immediate threats on all fronts, from Putin's
attempts to threaten the sovereignty of our allies to China's
challenges to our alliance.
And, finally, as Putin attempts to rewrite history, working with our
allies and partners is critical to ensuring that Putin or any leader
that attempts to follow in his path is met with the might of NATO's
democratic resolve.
One of the other things that I was very impressed with as we met not
just with some of our NATO allies but with NATO aspirant country
delegations and talked to leaders from the Indo-Pacific who were in
Madrid is how everybody we talked to reaffirmed the importance of
America's leadership in the world. So I think as we think about the
future of NATO, about what we need to do in the United States, it is
important to remember just how important our role is.
Now, our trip coincided with Turkey's announcement to support Finland
and Sweden's ambitions to join NATO, which will significantly
strengthen the alliance. In fact, as we landed in Madrid, we got the
news that Turkey had dropped its hold on those applications. So we were
able to celebrate.
Sweden and Finland's accession into NATO sends an unmistakable
message to Putin: The alliance is stronger than ever and Russia does
not have veto power over who joins NATO.
Our delegation was pleased to meet with the leadership from both
Sweden and Finland to reaffirm the bipartisan support in the Senate for
the swift approval of their NATO applications.
Our delegation's bipartisan message of support for Ukraine and NATO
was reciprocated by our allies, which was evident during the meetings
that we had with Japan and Germany. We met with Ukrainian officials and
underscored our strong support to not only help Ukraine defend itself
but to help Ukraine win. And that is what we heard from all of the
allies we met with.
It is critical that, as Members of the Senate, we continue to do all
we can to coordinate with our allies and support Ukraine's heroic
efforts to defend itself against Putin's aggression because that war is
not just against the people of Ukraine; it is an attack on democracies
around the world, an attack on our shared transatlantic values--values
that have maintained peace for over 70 years.
Our bipartisan delegation made clear that the United States will
continue to support peace and stability in Europe and around the world.
We will defend every inch of NATO territory and continue to look for
ways to bolster Ukraine's defense.
We were pleased to share this commitment with members of the Biden
administration who also traveled to the NATO summit. Our delegation met
with President Biden, with Secretary Austin, and Secretary Blinken and
reaffirmed that the Senate will continue to look for ways to help
defend Ukraine and respond to emerging threats from the Balkans to the
Indo-Pacific.
Again, I want to thank all of those who went on this very important
trip, especially the staff who did such a great job putting it
together. I was proud to colead that delegation, which was centered on
our bipartisan resolve to support a strong and unified NATO and stand
by our Ukrainian partners.
As Putin's war threatens democracies around the world, I think it is
important that we send a clear message to our constituents at home and
our allies abroad that the United States remains resolute in our
commitment to the stability and freedom of all democratic nations
because if Putin succeeds in Ukraine, there is no telling where his
belligerence will end.
Last night, Senator Durbin secured unanimous consent for the
protocols to the North Atlantic Treaty on the accession of Sweden and
Finland to be referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. This
is an important development as we look at ratifying those protocols. I
hope we can get this done as quickly as possible. I hope the Foreign
Relations Committee will move on that process and we can act here in
the Senate Chamber because swift ratification is in our national
security interest.
Again, I am pleased to join my colleagues here on the floor and would
like to turn it over to Senator Tillis to get his impressions from the
trip.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina.
Mr. TILLIS. Mr. President, I want to thank Senator Shaheen and my
colleagues on the floor here--Senators Coons, Ernst, Blunt, and the
others who joined the bipartisan delegation at the NATO summit. It was
an extraordinary opportunity to see firsthand how the democratic world
looks at the United States for leadership.
It was an extraordinary opportunity to talk about Russia's
aspirations. It was an extraordinary opportunity to talk about what I
think may go down as the greatest miscalculation in this century on the
part of Vladimir Putin.
Months ago, when he was massing troops at the Ukrainian border, he
[[Page S3222]]
called it a special military operation, a training exercise, for a
little while. What he was thinking in the back of his head was that now
was the time to test NATO's resolve; now was the time to see if the
differences that we have was enough to break an alliance.
What he found out was quite the opposite. Shortly after February 24,
the NATO countries came together, the EU came together. We implemented
sanctions. We provided troops on the ground to assist with the
evacuation of Ukrainian refugees.
And now we are in a position of providing support for the very
courageous members of the Ukrainian military.
What else did he get for his miscalculation? Two nations that, for
decades, have been nonaligned, Sweden and Finland. Eight hundred and
thirty miles of Russian border is now about to be the back door or the
front yard of NATO. And when Finland and Sweden ultimately get
membership in NATO, which I expect to be in weeks or months, then
Vladimir Putin needs to understand his reward for invading a sovereign
nation is 830 miles of NATO borders right next door.
Now I want to talk a little bit about Finland and Sweden. They are
extraordinary countries--advanced democracies, the rule of law, a great
defense industrial base in Sweden, home to Saab. They manufacture jet
fighters that are NATO interoperable.
Finland is already spending in the 2-percent threshold for NATO and
wanting to go further. Finland has 64 joint strike fighters on order.
If the United States was going to have as many--they are a nation of
about 5\1/2\ million people--if the United States was going to have as
many F-35s as Finland on a per capita basis, we would need thousands of
them. We have less than 200. They are committed to defense. They are a
strong army, a strong ground force. Russia knows that; just look back
to 1939.
And then in Sweden, we have a defense industrial base and a Navy that
covers the Arctic. It covers the Baltics. They are going to be net
distributors of security the day that they get NATO membership.
I had somebody a couple of weeks ago--from time to time, I go to the
front office, and I take calls from constituents. I had someone call up
and say, Why are you supporting--why are you focused on Ukraine? Why
are you focused on Finland and Sweden when we have so many things we
need to do back here at home?
I said, We have to do both because the future of our safety and our
freedom at home is intrinsically linked to the safety and security of
Europe.
This weekend, I was moving some furniture around. I came across a
globe I have had for 40 years. It has a picture of the Soviet Empire on
it. Vladimir Putin wants to recreate that and expand it. This doesn't
end. And I told the caller this: It doesn't end in Ukraine. It is one
step of several chess moves that Vladimir Putin would like to play out
and, ultimately, dominate the free world. We can't let that happen.
When we were at the NATO summit, I think it was very clear--at least
to me--that those whom we met with, the heads of state, feel like now
more than ever is the time America has to lead, that America has to
understand the threats that exist: a rising China, a threatening
Russia, a malign group of leaders in Iran. Now is the time for us to
look outward and preserve the free world.
How do we do that? We make NATO stronger. We admit Sweden. We admit
Finland. And we continue to work together to recognize emerging threats
in the Pacific Rim.
I think at the end of the day, to the American citizen who is
wondering why do we worry about NATO, why do we worry about Ukraine?
Because it is directly linked to the future of our sovereignty and our
safety here at home.
I want to thank the President for his contribution at NATO, as well.
We met with him for about an hour last week. We had a press conference
a little later in the day, and people wanted to ask us about domestic
policies. I said, We are a bipartisan group here to talk about our
commitment to NATO and our commitment to having Putin fail in Ukraine.
We can have our differences back home, but there is no daylight between
the Republicans and the Democrats who were on that codel with respect
to the future of our commitment to NATO and a future to our commitment
to the free world.
I hope that we will move swiftly to pass the treaty, to be one of the
first to recognize that we want and welcome Sweden and Finland into the
NATO alliance. And then we need to continue to remind people at home
why it is important. Although it is not in our backyard, it is in a
part of the world that if we let this stand, if we don't act with
unity, then we will live to regret it.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
Mr. COONS. I rise to join the leaders of the codel that I just had
the honor and blessing of joining, Senators Shaheen and Tillis, and a
number of the other members of that codel, Senators Ernst and Blunt.
And I was grateful for the chance to travel with Senators Durbin and
Fischer. I want to just join in my colleagues' statements today.
I think this was a tremendous opportunity for us in Sweden and in
Finland to meet with nations that are advanced economies, that are
closely aligned with our values, that have sophisticated militaries,
and that now, for the very first time, are seeking admission to NATO.
NATO is the most successful security alliance in world history, and it
is rooted in shared values and shared concerns and interests.
One of the most vulnerable pieces of NATO, if you looked at the map
just a few months ago, were three little Baltic States--Latvia,
Lithuania, and Estonia--that, for decades, were under the heel of the
Soviet Union. They were relatively newly independent in recent decades,
admitted to NATO, but very difficult to defend.
One of the reasons I joined with my colleagues to say here, as we did
in Madrid, that we should swiftly ratify the joining to NATO of both
Sweden and Finland is that they will provide security. They will be
security contributors to this alliance. The odds that a young man or a
woman from Iowa or North Carolina, from Missouri, New Hampshire, or
Delaware will have to go defend Estonia, will have to go risk or give
their life to defending Latvia or Lithuania will go down dramatically
if we have on that border, at the very northern end of the NATO
alliance, a new 830-mile border between Finland and Russia. The
Russians know they will have to defend and pay attention to it given
the unique history of 1939-1940 war. And where countries aligned with
our values and priorities are going to continue to contribute to the
importance of this alliance.
It was valuable that in our meetings with heads of state from Europe,
like Chancellor Scholz from the Indo-Pacific, like Prime Minister
Kishida from Japan, in conversations with foreign Secretaries like Liz
Truss of the United Kingdom, or meetings with foreign Ministers of
Italy and of Germany and of France and of Spain, that this delegation
was able to speak with one voice and to articulate why we join the
Biden administration in supporting NATO accession for these two
critical new partners.
The last point I want to make is that I am hopeful--I am optimistic--
that we will continue to provide unified bipartisan robust support for
Ukraine's brave and fierce defense of its Nation and its sovereignty in
the face of Russia's war crimes, Russia's continued aggression. We are
calling on all of our NATO allies to step up and to contribute and to
participate. And they are. This has brought greater unity, greater
purpose, greater focus to the NATO alliance than anything in decades.
I will remind you, the one time that the article 5 sacred obligation
to come to each other's defense has been triggered before was in
Afghanistan. Thousands and thousands of NATO soldiers served alongside
ours in Afghanistan when it was the United States that was attacked on
9/11. This NATO alliance is stronger than it has ever been and needs to
be the strongest it has ever been, because, as my colleagues both laid
out clearly and concisely, this is a pivotal moment in the future of
the United States and our role in the world, the future of NATO and
Western freedom.
We must make sure we succeed. I am so grateful for the bipartisan
commitment that was at the core of this delegation.
I yield to my colleague.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.
[[Page S3223]]
Ms. ERNST. Mr. President, I want to thank my colleagues, especially
Senators Shaheen and Tillis, for leading an incredibly successful
congressional delegation to the NATO summit. I want to thank them, as
well, for organizing the colloquy today.
I join them in enthusiastically endorsing Finland and Sweden's
accession into NATO. Both nations have representative governments
accountable to their people. They conduct extensive commerce and trade
with our great United States, and, broadly, they share many of our
values.
Historically, perhaps these were conditions sufficient to readily
welcome two European nations into one of our multinational security
frameworks, but today, given the increasingly complex threats our
adversaries are imposing on the homeland, protecting American security
and prosperity demands partners who are capable of sharing NATO's
manpower and resource burdens.
NATO isn't a club of democracies or a playground for exploring
climate change or progressive cultural interests. It is a military
alliance that is assembled to deter our adversaries from wreaking havoc
on our partners and against our own homeland.
Today, the United States is the unquestioned and undisputed leader of
not just NATO, but continues to lead the global coalition containing
and destroying terrorist operations in the Middle East and in Africa.
Beyond Europe and the Middle East, the United States must--and I will
repeat that--must lead a coalition to deter China's looming imperial
expansion around the world and potential takeover of Taiwan and our
other partners in the Indo-Pacific.
The United States has the greatest military on the face of the
planet, and the American people's support of our Armed Forces is
unwavering.
Still, our Commander in Chief, our diplomatic and military
leadership, and Members of the Senate must hold our partners
accountable to their own defense and not lean on the reach and
lethality of our soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, and guardians
alone.
Going forward, NATO member countries must invest in their own
defense. Two percent must be a minimum standard. Longstanding members
of the alliance remain far too lax and sometimes neglectful of their
obligations to the alliance and to their people. America is not the
world's policemen, but we are the leader of the free world and this
alliance. And Finland and Sweden are on target regarding their 2-
percent commitment.
I am confident that Finland and Sweden are ready to stand up and help
shoulder the resource burden on NATO's military obligations in Europe,
particularly following Russia's bloody, lawless invasion of Ukraine.
The accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO is a great success, but
regarding the war raging in Ukraine today, on day 140 of this conflict,
the U.S. cannot grow weary. Our resolve to support our partner must
carry on. China is watching. The Gulf States, South America, and Africa
are weighing their commitment to the free world against the economic
and security guarantees on the table from our adversaries.
Our national defense capacity diminishes the more our adversaries,
from the Taliban to Iran's cluster of violent extremist organizations,
to Vladimir Putin, to the Chinese Communist Party, can call our bluff
and see if we cannot bear the cost of achieving our goals.
We must remain steady and strong. This administration and our
partners in NATO must change their strategy to deliver Ukraine victory
over Putin's Russia, and that is why Sweden and Finland will be a much
welcomed addition to NATO.
Again, I thank my colleagues for organizing this colloquy, and I urge
this body to move very quickly to confirm the U.S. support of Finland
and Sweden's accession to NATO.
I yield the floor to my colleague from Missouri.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Missouri.
Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I know we have a vote coming up. I have
brief remarks, and I ask unanimous consent to complete them before the
vote starts.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, I want to join with my five colleagues who
have been here today and the two people who were with us, Senator
Durbin and Senator Fischer.
I would say one of the great things about this effort was the
unanimous feeling that all seven of us had about both what is happening
in NATO and our commitment to win in Ukraine. We were able to
demonstrate that to every group we met with from every country we met
with. I think with the strong leadership of Chairmen Shaheen and Tillis
that it made an impression on where we were and the unity we have on
this.
It would be interesting to know if Putin was more surprised by the
Ukrainian resistance, the poor performance of his own military, or my
guess would be he may have been most surprised by what has happened at
NATO--the great turnaround of the NATO--the current NATO countries and
their commitment to NATO, their commitment to what they have been
willing to do and pledged to do with NATO and then to see these two
incredibly important security contributors join NATO after 73 years of
being neutral and an important part of the world and saw that as part
of their long-term commitment.
But both Finland and Sweden, which, by the way, have been NATO
contributors for some time now in terms of being willing to be part of
NATO missions, training with their future NATO allies--all that is
incredibly important, but these countries not only bring incredible
security contributions to NATO, they also bring significant geographic
contributions to NATO. When you look at a map, suddenly not just
Norway, which has been in NATO, but Sweden and Finland in NATO has an
incredible impact on the ability of what happens in the Baltic. That is
important to us as we look to the future.
Now, with the exception of Russia, every country that borders and has
part of a claim on the Arctic will be a NATO country. This is a part of
the world we have been talking about much more the last 5 years than we
did the previous 25 years. To have this NATO unity as we look at the
Arctic is an important thing.
The 800-mile border that Finland has shared for years and defended
for years against Russia doubles the NATO border in Europe.
The intimate understanding that both Sweden and Finland have of
Russia brings a different point of view and a helpful point of view to
NATO.
For the current members, particularly the new members of NATO, when
you look at these Baltic countries of Estonia and Latvia and Lithuania
and then look at Poland and Romania, seeing what happens when the unity
is created and the force multiplier is there--I have heard my
colleagues already talk about the jet planes, the submarines, the navy,
the air force that both of these people bring, the cyber ability that
both of them bring to the fight is real.
You know, in a meeting that I was in before this meeting occurred
with the Latvian Defense Minister, the Latvian Defense Minister, one of
the newest members of NATO, one of the most vulnerable members of NATO
as we have looked at NATO for some time, said: We don't want to be
rescued by NATO; we want to be defended by NATO.
I think today, as we see the growth of NATO, we see a NATO that is
willing to do its job defending its members in this most successful
alliance of all time. There has never been anything like it. President
Truman was the leader in putting this together in 1949. Here we are 73
years later. In my view, NATO not only has its largest group of members
but also its most powerful and committed group of members in the
history of this alliance.
I look forward to being on the Senate floor when the Senate does its
job to welcome Sweden and Finland to NATO, and I am pleased that
process has started.
I yield the floor.