It is seen as a significant step in expanding the Western military alliance and shows US support to members in the wake of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
The Senate has invited ambassadors from countries to witness the historic debate and vote to become new members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
President Joe Biden has called for the approval of two former non-military Northern European partners to join the military alliance and speed up the process of ratification at its bipartisan Congress.
“The NATO alliance is our foundation, which has guaranteed democracy to the Western world since the end of World War II,” said Senate Majority Leader and Democrat from New York, Chuck Schumer.
Schumer said he and the Leader of Republicans in the House, Mitch McConnell, have committed to the nation’s leaders that the Senate will approve a Senate confirmation motion to expand the organization “as soon as possible” in the wake of recent Russian aggression.
30 NATO members are considering the process of joining Sweden and Finland as new members. In the past, both the countries had taken a stand to stay away from any military group.
Significantly, there was a big change in the stand of both the countries after Russia’s attack on Ukraine on 24 February this year.
The motion, including two amendments, is expected to be debated in the Senate on Wednesday for several hours before a final vote.
An amendment has been proposed by Senator Rand Paul according to which NATO guarantees to protect member states would not replace Congress’s right to approve military use.
The Second Amendment, introduced by Senate Dan Sullivan, calls for all NATO members to spend at least two percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defense and 20 percent of the defense budget “on critical equipment, including research and development”. provision has been made to do so.
AP Dheeraj Pavnesh
Pawanesh