Political Quotes

“Mr. Chair, this amendment expresses a sense of Congress. This doesn't even have teeth on it. It just asks nicely, please, NATO allies, would you contribute the amount that you said you would, please? It is a kind ask. It is a sense of Congress that you should do what you said you would do. NATO countries who choose not to invest in their own defense, specifically meeting the 2014 Wales Summit Defense Spending Benchmark, better known as the 2 percent GDP commitment, should be held accountable for that. That is all it is saying, you should actually do what you said you would do. In 2006, NATO defense ministers agreed to annually commit a minimum of 2 percent of their Nation's GDP on their own defense. According to NATO, this spending threshold ``serves as an indicator of a country's political will to contribute to NATO's common defense. . . . '' In 2014, the NATO alliance adopted the ``defense investment pledge.'' At that time, only 3 of NATO's 28 NATO member countries were meeting their 2 percent defense spending commitment. At that time, the NATO alliance issued the statement: We agree to reverse the trend of declining defense budgets, to make the most effective use of our funds, and to further a more balanced sharing of costs and responsibilities. Our overall security and defense depend both on how much we spend and how we spend it. They recognized the problem, and they committed to change course back in 2014.…”