[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 113 (Tuesday, July 9, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4257-S4258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                  NATO

  Mr. President, I would note, as Members have seen and as the public 
is reading and hearing about, that this week, 32 nations are gathering 
in Washington for NATO's 75th anniversary summit. Our alliance has 
reached this remarkable milestone, 75 years. Its longevity reaffirms 
its past success and its enduring value.
  Our bond must remain strong, particularly at this hour. We are in the 
most dangerous global security threat since World War II. Almost all of 
our witnesses before the Armed Services Committee tell us that we are 
in the most dangerous global security threat for generations. As we 
navigate today's new challenges, NATO still stands as an indispensable 
alliance.
  In this consequential moment, NATO is receiving a new leader. I 
congratulate the outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and I 
welcome our new Secretary General Mark Rutte.
  NATO's 75th anniversary and its leadership transition provides 
Senators an opportunity. We have a chance to remember why NATO matters, 
and we have a chance to call upon every member--every Nation member--to 
recommit to our alliance. I call upon my colleagues in both Houses and 
in the administration, our friends, to recommit to this important and 
vital alliance.
  As Mr. Rutte takes office, he has a significant challenge to 
confront.

[[Page S4258]]

Frankly, we all do. As I have pointed out from this desk numerous 
times, NATO faces a new axis of aggressors. China, Russia, Iran, and 
North Korea are banding together. They are banding together to help 
Russia in its illegal invasion of Ukraine and they are banding together 
to pursue their designs on the free nations of this world.
  This new axis poses a set of growing, interlocking strategic threats 
to the United States and our allies. In their own way, they have all 
been supporting Russia's illegal and unprovoked war on Ukraine.
  And at this moment, I would have to pause and note the shameless and 
vicious Russian attack just earlier this week on a children's hospital 
in Kyiv, Ukraine.
  This act by one of the most brutal dictators that has ever walked on 
the face of the Earth must go answered. It cannot go unanswered. And 
the very idea that the free nations of this world would seek to 
negotiate as peers with such a brutal war criminal as Vladimir Putin, 
to me, is unthinkable.
  What in the world makes anyone think that this person who has 
violated every single principle of the organization for security and 
cooperation in Europe would negotiate in good faith and agree to that 
negotiation?
  So we have a bleak situation, and it highlights NATO's importance. 
NATO was built for such a time as this. And in meeting with the leaders 
yesterday afternoon on the other end of this magnificent Capitol, I was 
heartened to hear that principle underscored.
  After the devastation of two World Wars, NATO kept the peace by 
deterring the Soviet Union, and thank God we did. In the post-Cold War 
era, the alliance's support for Ukraine has demonstrated why NATO 
continues to be relevant.
  Most NATO members have provided substantial military, economic, and 
humanitarian assistance to Ukraine. In short, the alliance celebrates 
its 75th birthday from a position of strength.
  But we should not interpret NATO's accomplishments in the past as a 
license to let down our guard now. NATO's collective strength is only 
as strong as its members' individual commitments.
  The truth is that our allies need to spend more on defense. We need, 
in the United States, to spend more on defense. It is a necessity. We 
need to build modern, capable militaries that can stand shoulder to 
shoulder together in a fight against this axis of aggressors.
  We need the industrial might to match that force strength. In fact, 
most allies are meeting their obligations. This year, 23 out of 32 NATO 
countries will spend at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product 
on defense, up from only 7 out of 32 at the time of Russia's invasion 
of Ukraine. We all learned a lesson at that moment 2\1/2\ years ago.
  At this point, I ask unanimous consent to complete my remarks prior 
to the scheduled roll call.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Hickenlooper). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. WICKER. Thank you very much to my colleagues and to the Chair.
  The world has grown too dangerous for the remaining NATO members not 
to meet the 2-percent mark. We all must make it a priority to increase 
defense spending. It is shocking and unacceptable that some allies, 
especially some capable ones, have yet to reach the 2-percent 
requirement that they agreed to.
  Friends can speak candidly to one another, and so I will. Our 
neighbor to the north, Canada, is among this group, which has not and, 
for several years in the future, will not reach its need.
  I was able to meet with Prime Minister Trudeau just a few moments ago 
and was glad to hear him say that an announcement will be made from our 
friends in Canada, perhaps later this week, about a new plan to more 
quickly reach that 2-percent goal. And I call on him to fulfill that 
statement that he made to us in private. We look forward to that, and 
we congratulate him on that effort.
  NATO allies shouldn't outsource security to others. But this 
challenge presents an opportunity, one that adds to the mandate we give 
the incoming Secretary General. The transatlantic industrial base has 
withered, and we also need to attend to that. And that should be part 
of Secretary General Rutte's new platform.
  In the past, our friends of freedom have had to follow our lead as we 
pursue a ``peace through strength'' agenda. Today, Europe has not kept 
pace as it should.
  The United States has begun investing heavily to rebuild its arsenal 
of democracy, and we need to continue doing so. But we are still 
waiting for the dramatic increase in European 155-mm artillery 
production. We have yet to see the expanded lines of long-range cruise 
missiles such as the Storm Shadow and the Scout.
  We have heard promises of a reinvigorated defense industrial base in 
Europe, but those assurances have yet to be fulfilled.
  So as he assumes office, Secretary General Rutte should join us in 
recognizing the 2-percent commitment is, in truth, insufficient in 
light of Russia's newly mobilized war economy. There are additional 
issues standing in NATO's way. Its members remain mired in their own 
domestic issues. They must, of course, attend to these domestic 
concerns, but they also remain tangled up in an alliance bureaucracy 
that struggles with basic expansions in munitions production capacity.
  These challenges are significant, but Mr. Rutte and the elected 
governments of our alliance must not abide the status quo. We should 
consider this situation unsustainable, and we should say so.
  NATO asks its members for 2 percent; in my 21st Century Peace Through 
Strength report, I recommended that we in the United States spend 5 
percent of GDP on national defense--as did President Reagan. My plan is 
primarily designed to deter the Chinese Communist Party, but it also 
calls for the United States to deepen commitments to Europe.
  For a few examples, I recommend permanently stationing an armored 
brigade combat team in Poland. My plan proposes increasing our 
rotational deployments in Eastern Europe. We should also improve 
intelligence sharing and communication among allied forces.
  Time and again, the United States has learned, sometimes the hard 
way, we cannot walk away from Europe. Together, the transatlantic 
alliance represents half of the world's economy. There is simply no way 
to contain Beijing's economic aggression without working together 
closely.
  Likewise, a stagnant U.S. military budget and halfhearted European 
defense spending cannot contain Russia's antagonism.
  So thank you for your indulgence.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.
  Ms. CANTWELL. Mr. President, I understand we have colleagues here and 
we have a vote, but I wanted to ask unanimous consent for 2 minutes 
prior to the vote.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.