Political Quotes

“This amendment requires the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress a report on allied contributions to defense spending. The 1985 NDAA established an annual report from the Department of Defense on allied contributions to our common defense with the initial focus on NATO. Of course, the Cold War was going on then, but that continued until 2004. The DOD stopped producing this report as the Pentagon's priorities shifted to the global war on terror. Nevertheless, the report is an important one. NATO allies have an obligation to provide their own defense. We don't want there to be some misunderstanding that NATO membership has somehow bought war insurance and that America will either fight or fund your war. We will help you fight and win a war under article 5 and only then if Congress authorizes combat. We might authorize spending, we might authorize combat, but Congress is the body that declares our wars. We can do that better when we know whether our allies are promoting their own defense. If they are shortchanging their own defense, we might feel differently about the vulnerability. Weakness invites aggression. Unfortunately, many of our allies have invited that aggression. As Donald Trump cautioned Germany, as an example, you shouldn't be doing business with Russia. Look how it turned out. Now, this isn't simply the fault of Germany underfunding their defense or becoming totally dependent upon Russia.…”