Political Quotes

“I rise as co-chair of the Congressional Georgia Caucus, and I rise in favor of House Resolution 997 which expresses support for extending NATO membership action plan status to Georgia and Ukraine. I do thank Chairman Berman and Congressman Wexler for their leadership in this bipartisan effort to support Georgia and Ukraine in their entrance into NATO. As leading democratic reformers in Eastern Europe, Ukraine and Georgia are both worthy of advancing their participation in NATO from 'intensified dialogue' to membership action plan, MAP, status during the Bucharest Summit. This is an important and timely next step toward the goal of becoming full members of NATO. Both of these nations are keenly interested in joining NATO and working closely with Western allies. They have already demonstrated this by actively participating in both U.S. and NATO forces. More than 2,000 Georgian soldiers currently serve alongside U.S. military personnel in Iraq, making it the third largest coalition partner. And Ukraine is the only nonmember state taking an active role in all of NATO's peacekeeping and anti-terrorist operations.”