Posted on 12/14/2023 2:33:03 PM PST by algore
Congress has approved legislation that would prevent any president from withdrawing the United States from NATO without approval from the Senate or an Act of Congress.
The measure, spearheaded by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), was included in the annual National Defense Authorization Act, which passed out of the House on Thursday and is expected to be signed by President Biden.
The provision underscores Congress’s commitment to the NATO alliance that was a target of former President Trump’s ire during his term in office. The alliance has taken on revitalized importance under Biden, especially since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“NATO has held strong in response to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war in Ukraine and rising challenges around the world,” Kaine said in a statement, He added the legislation “reaffirms U.S. support for this crucial alliance that is foundational for our national security. It also sends a strong message to authoritarians around the world that the free world remains united.”
Rubio said the measure served as a critical tool for congressional oversight.
“We must ensure we are protecting our national interests and protecting the security of our democratic allies,” he said in a statement.
Biden has invested deeply in the NATO alliance during his term, committing more troops and military resources to Europe as a show of force against Putin’s war. He has also overseen the expansion of the alliance with the inclusion of Finland and ongoing efforts to secure Sweden’s full accession.
Trump, the front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination, has sent mixed messages on the alliance ahead of 2024.
The former president’s advocates say his tough talk and criticisms of the alliance served to inspire member-states to fulfill their obligations to reach 2 percent of defense spending, lightening the burden on the U.S.
Screw Rubio!
It is amazing how hard it is to get rid of government bureaucracy.
They just seem to be living taking on a life of their own.
Does that little moron realize he took the only tool we had to get the euros to pay their fair Shar out of Trumps hands? Trump ought to send the bill to Congress and ask them how they intend to pay the difference without taxpayer money. Stupid stupid jerks
The government of perpetual war has to stop Trump from bringing peace
I am not sure this is constitutional.
In any event, alliance member or not, no president would be compelled to do anything as a result of being an alliance member. The decisions if, when and how to use force pursuant to the NATO treaty still rest with the president. This is an anti-Trump move by the terrible Neocon Marco Foam Party Rubio.
Nothing can stop the MIC. The legislators pocket millions.
Got to keep subsidizing that European socialism.
I would almost think the legislation was not needed, as being part of NATO is a treaty arrangement the U.S. signed, and the Senate approved, and I did not think that Presidents can unilaterly defy a treaty arrangement the U.S. is part of.
It seems to me the legislation was stating what was already legally obvious.
That President who wants to end/diminish NATO need only NOT INCLUDE anything for it in the NDAA budget.
Guess they don’t understand separation of powers, coequal branches of government.
They don’t have authority to limit either of the other branches in any way, and vice versa.
It’s about clawing authority they don’t have, not in the subject itself.
They forget coequal branches of government and that none have authority over the rest.
Hard to say what’s needed anymore. Obama signed on (illegally w/o Senate Approval) to the Paris Climate Accords, IIRC.
Regardless, I’d say the way to diminish NATO is to just not include any funding or operational orders supporting it. NATO has become a lumbering behemoth going far beyond its original charter. If Europe and some here in the US want NATO-like involvement in the mideast, then create a new treaty and get it passed through the Senate and stop piggy-backing off cold war NATO.
To hell with NATO and Europe.
Let them rot in their soon to be Muslim countries.
Dem Presidents have ignored treaties. Clinton for one when it came to Taiwan.
A larger majority in congress can overturn this BS!! NATO is an absolutely USELESS organization that the US is the major supporter of our tax dollars WASTED as usual!!
Just ask South Vietnam.
“Hard to say what’s needed anymore. Obama signed on (illegally w/o Senate Approval) to the Paris Climate Accords, IIRC.”
And because it did not constitute a treaty no president since is required by law to follow it.
Presidential agreements not signed as a treaty approved by the Senate have no force of law, to any administration that does not feel bound by it.
A treaty approved by the Senate is different, in law. It is pretty near to, but not as strongs as, a Constitutional amendment but considered part of “the Supreme law of the land”.
I think the “new” legilsation was not needed to keep the U.S. in NATO without the Congress agreeing to dissolve a U.S. treaty arrangement.
If a U.S. President attempts to leave NATO without Senate approval or an Act of Congress, the bill prohibits any funding from being used to do so and also authorizes Congressional Legal Counsel to challenge the Administration in court.
So Trump (or whoever) could still actually do it
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