NATO Expansion. This bill’s self-described purpose (H.R. 3167) is: "To endorse the vision of further enlargement of the NATO Alliance articulated by President George W. Bush on June 15, 2001, and by former President William J. Clinton on October 22, 1996…." In this bill the House "… reaffirms its [Congress’] previous expressions of support for continued enlargement of the NATO Alliance contained in the NATO Participation Act of 1994, the NATO Enlargement Facilitation Act of 1996, and the European Security Act of 1998…." This bill also authorizes a total of $55.5 million in military aid for fiscal 2002 for Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, and Romania. However, Congress should be acting to preserve our national sovereignty by getting our nation out of NATO. NATO was established as a subsidiary of the United Nations by the North Atlantic Treaty (April 4, 1949), which stated in its Article 1: "The Parties undertake, as set forth in the Charter of the United Nations, … to refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force in any manner inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations."
The House passed H.R. 3167 on November 7, 2001 by a vote of 372 to 46 (Roll Call 431). We have assigned pluses to the nays.
