Political Quotes

“I want to make clear so that we all know, what we are talking about is the NATO Enlargement Facilitation Act, which was passed in 1996. Basically, what the act does, Madam President, as you well know, is that it says there are newly independent states, which formerly were satellite states of the Soviet Union, who are seeking membership or may seek membership in NATO. It is kind of a two-stage process. We did the same thing for Hungary, we did the same thing for Poland, we did the same thing for the Czech Republic, and last year we added Slovenia. We basically said, look, we, the Congress and the President, will come up with some money to help you begin to organize yourself to meet the criteria for admission into NATO. This is not a club that you join because you like it, or join because you simply want to join. This is a deal where everybody has to carry their own weight proportionately within the club, and we are not going to admit anybody who cannot do that.”