Senate Wants Approval if U.S. Opts out of NATO

In the Trump administration, NATO has received its fair share of criticism.

Although no move has been made to pull out of NATO, a bipartisan effort has launched to ensure that Senate approval is required if the President were ever to make a motion for the United States to leave.

Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s 2016 Vice Presidential candidate, introduced the bill, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio joins a host of other senators to push the bill into law.

His office noted that the resolution “requires any president to seek the advice and consent of the Senate to suspend, terminate, or withdraw U.S. membership in NATO and formalizes the Senate’s opposition to doing so. If the president attempts to leave NATO without Senate approval, this bill prohibits any funding from being used to do so and also authorizes Congressional Legal Counsel to challenge the executive branch in court.”

Senator Marco Rubio, who's been heavily critical of Russia, comments that “NATO is more important than ever with Russia’s growing subversive activities in the region and beyond. It is critical to our national security and the security of our allies in Europe that the United States remain engaged and play an active role in NATO.”

Senator Kaine added that “at a time of increased Russian aggression and global threats, our alliance with NATO is more important than ever to ensure the safety of the American people.” And, what caused him to introduce the resolution was “the president’s reckless decision-making – his abrupt withdrawal of U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan, his pullout from the Iran nuclear deal and Paris climate agreement, and his deference to Vladimir Putin,” which Kaine believes “is destroying strategic partnerships we have forged with allies across the world.”

The bipartisan resolution has been sent to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee last week, and there is currently no counterpart to the resolution in the House.