Ted Poe: “``This is no NATO for deadbeats,'' to quote Wesley Pruden of The Washington Times. Some of our NATO allies are beside…”

“``This is no NATO for deadbeats,'' to quote Wesley Pruden of The Washington Times. Some of our NATO allies are beside themselves over President Trump's calling out our NATO friends for not helping pick up the tab of 2 percent in military spending. As a member of the U.S. NATO Parliamentary Assembly, I have been befuddled for years how some of the countries make excuses for not paying their committed share of NATO defense--defense against the Napoleon of Siberia, Putin. Our ever-proper European friends may not remember that American teenagers went to war and shed blood two times in the last century to help save Europe. Well, Madam Speaker, Americans have not forgotten the American sacrifice in those lands over there. It is time for all NATO countries to be as concerned about European defense as America is. If President Trump's comments irked the sensibilities of our allies, well, they should just get the message. It is time for NATO to buck it up and keep their word and help pay for our common defense. And that is just the way it is. ____________________”