On the recordJuly 19, 2012
The Cold War ended more than two decades ago, and the Iron Curtain and the Soviet Union no longer exist. While the United States is spending 4.7 percent of our economy on defense, only 4 out of 28 of our NATO allies are spending even 2 percent of their economy on defense. Our allies in Europe have drastically reduced their national defense spending because they take for granted that the United States will continue to be the guarantor of their security. Now it is time for our NATO allies to provide more of their own security and not be so reliant upon the United States. We face difficult budget challenges here at home. The resources that we are currently spending on maintaining a military presence in Europe are needed to meet much more significant security challenges elsewhere. The Pentagon has recently stated that the American military presence in Europe is a diminishing priority and has proposed removing two combat brigade teams in fiscal year 2013. This bipartisan limiting amendment to the Defense appropriations bill will force the Department of Defense to follow through with withdrawing two brigade combat teams from Europe and will deny the ability for the Pentagon to reverse this decision later. Mr. Chairman, I yield to the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer).
