Doug Bereuter: “as original cosponsor of this legislation, and as a leader of this body's delegation to the North Atlantic Assembly…”

“as original cosponsor of this legislation, and as a leader of this body's delegation to the North Atlantic Assembly, this Member rises in strong support of the NATO Enlargement Facilitation Act. This Member would commend the distinguished gentleman from New York [Mr. Gilman], the chairman of the Committee on International Relations, for his leadership in promoting this important national security legislation. In addition, this Member would pay tribute to the former majority leader of the other body, the distinguished former Senator from Kansas, Mr. Dole. It is clear that, were it not for the leadership of Senator Dole, we would not be considering this visionary legislation today. Mr. Speaker, there has been a great deal of confusion, both in this body as well as among the countries and interested parties in Eastern and Central Europe, about what this legislation really does. In order to produce or eliminate any confusion, this Member would like to take a moment and attempt to succinctly explain what this legislation will do and what it will not do. First, contrary to what has frequently been said, this legislation would not admit new countries into NATO; that is something that can be done only with the parliamentary concurrence of all 16 Members of NATO. The legislation does, however, take appropriate note of the three Central European countries Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary, which have made the greatest strides toward qualifying for NATO membership.”