William Helms: “on behalf of myself, Senator Lieberman, Senator Lugar, Senator Durbin, and fourteen other of our colleagues I send to…”

“on behalf of myself, Senator Lieberman, Senator Lugar, Senator Durbin, and fourteen other of our colleagues I send to the desk a bill entitled the Freedom Consolidation Act of 2001. An identical bill is being introduced simultaneously in the House of Representatives by Congressmen Doug Bereuter, Tom Lantos, and others. The Freedom Consolidation Act reaffirms what I believe to be a strong and bipartisan Congressional commitment to NATO enlargement. Focusing on the NATO Alliance's Prague summit in November of 2002, the bill endorses the vision of a Europe whole, undivided, free and secure. Indeed, this bipartisan vision has guided U.S. policy toward Europe for the last fifty years. It's a vision that President Clinton helped to make a reality through the integration of Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary into NATO. It is also a vision so powerfully reaffirmed by President George W. Bush in Warsaw this past June. Some hoped that the tragic events of September 11 would weaken the NATO Alliance. In fact, quite the opposite has happened. It has reinvigorated awareness on both sides of the Atlantic that NATO, an organization of collective defense, remains vital to the interests and values of the community of democracies. Moreover, the atrocities of September 11 have reaffirmed the need for the Alliance to move decisively forward on its agenda of enlargement, military modernization, and enhancements of its capacities against weapons of mass destruction.”