Political Quotes

“this is an amendment dealing with the power of the NATO alliance. We have seen since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine that NATO allows the democracies to link arms and stand courageously against an illegal invasion of Ukraine by the dictator Vladimir Putin. Some had questioned the value of NATO, but NATO has demonstrated its power to protect democracy against this invasion since February of 2022. There had been an issue raised in the last few years about whether any President could unilaterally withdraw from NATO, which was approved by the Senate in a treaty. The Constitution of the United States indicates that the Senate must ratify treaties but is silent about how to exit treaties. The U.S. Supreme Court, in 1979, said that is a political question for the legislature, the executive, to resolve. What this amendment would do would make plain that no one can withdraw from NATO--the United States from NATO--without either a two- thirds vote in the Senate or an act of Congress. We received a green light for this in the Goldwater v. Carter decision in 1979, and I think, of all the treaties the United States has entered into, right now at this moment, in the aftermath of the summit in Lithuania and during this war in Europe, this Congress should send a powerful message to our allies in NATO that we stand with this historic alliance. The administration supports this amendment. I would reserve the remainder of my time. The PRESIDING OFFICER.…”