[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.