Chris Dodd: “as you know, I had originally intended to offer an amendment to the pending resolution adding an additional declaration…”

“as you know, I had originally intended to offer an amendment to the pending resolution adding an additional declaration to the nine that were added during the Foreign Relations Committee's consideration of this matter. My amendment would have dealt with a topic already covered by the Warner-Levin amendment, namely the relevancy of the consensus rule by which the North Atlantic Council has historically carried out its decision making. Now that the Senate has adopted the Warner-Levin amendment by voice vote, I do not see any need to proceed with my amendment. My amendment would not have answered the question of whether in fact the consensus rule is relevant now that the world has profoundly changed and the membership of the organization has greatly expanded. It would however have appropriately called upon the President to review this matter as we move forward to sign off on the accession of seven additional members to this important organization. We all know that the latest round of NATO expansion--Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia, and Slovakia--will bring NATO membership up to 26 countries. And at least three more remain poised for admission in the coming years: Albania, Croatia, and Macedonia. Let me be clear. I am all for offering NATO membership to any democracy that wants to join and can contribute to our common security.”