Timothy Roemer: “It opens up all these possibilities by mandating to the President that he has to expand NATO and he has to look at…”

“It opens up all these possibilities by mandating to the President that he has to expand NATO and he has to look at providing foreign aid and disarmament aid to these qualifying countries. I would also argue to my colleagues that in reading through what this legislation says, we read through this and find that on page 71 of title VI, at the top of the page, these countries would be eligible for economic support assistance, they would be eligible for security assistance, and they would be eligible for nonproliferation and disarmament funds. Where in the Contract for America does it say that we are going to mandate that we expand NATO, that we list to the President of the United States all these countries that have to join, according to this legislation, in title VI, and that the American taxpayer is then going to fund this new expanded NATO? I do not think that that is what the elections in November were about. I would further argue that whether or not we intended this, the gentleman from New Jersey and I are in complete adherence to what the contract says.”