Findings

Congress finds the following: (1) The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has served as a pillar of international peace and stability, a critical component of United States security, and a deterrent against adversaries and external threats. (2) The House of Representatives affirmed in H. Res. 397, on June 27, 2017, that— (A) NATO is one of the most successful military alliances in history, deterring the outbreak of another world war, protecting the territorial integrity of its members, and concluding the Cold War peacefully; (B) NATO remains the foundation of United States foreign policy to promote prosperity, freedom, and peace in Europe; (C) the United States is solemnly committed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s principle of collective defense as enumerated in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty; (D) condemns any threat to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom, and democracy of any NATO ally; and (E) strongly supports collaboration with NATO allies to enforce Ukraine’s territorial integrity against unprovoked aggression from the Russian Federation. (3) NATO members should abide by the decision at the NATO Wales Summit in 2014 that each alliance member aim to spend at least 2 percent of its nation’s gross domestic product on defense by 2024. (4) Investing in multinational training exercises and joint research and education programs with NATO allies have offered improvements for interoperability and readiness against threats to European security, particularly from the Russian Federation.