Haley Stevens: “I am going to speak for a few minutes about the issue of NATO expansion, and I want to offer these two amendments today.…”

“I am going to speak for a few minutes about the issue of NATO expansion, and I want to offer these two amendments today. These amendments, I believe, will serve to bring greater accountability to the unresolved issue of the additional costs that will result with the accession of Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic to the NATO alliance. My first amendment requires all costs related to either the admission of new NATO members or their participation in NATO to be specifically authorized by law prior to the payment of these costs. I am speaking of the U.S. costs. Our U.S. costs would have to be specifically authorized by law before they could be paid. Actually, this ought to be the proper interpretation of the Constitution. But too often we find that costs--particularly those of foreign policy objectives supported by the Department of Defense--are incurred and then we are asked to pay for them in the budget process later. The costs related to NATO enlargement are still general estimates, but the debate is continuing as to what is actually required and what portion of these requirements should be paid by the NATO common budgets.”