{"id":43679,"date":"2019-12-16T14:43:52","date_gmt":"2019-12-16T14:43:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2019\/12\/16\/would-trump-drive-nato-exit-congress-works-on-roadblocks\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:30:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:30:41","slug":"would-trump-drive-nato-exit-congress-works-on-roadblocks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/congress\/2019\/12\/16\/would-trump-drive-nato-exit-congress-works-on-roadblocks\/","title":{"rendered":"Would Trump drive NATO exit? Congress works on roadblocks."},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 Amid uncertainty<\/a> over President Donald Trump\u2019s intentions toward NATO, Congress is taking bipartisan action to stop him from withdrawing from the alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent weeks, lawmakers in both chambers have taken steps to reaffirm its unwavering support for the military alliance and make it tougher for Trump to unilaterally withdraw from NATO \u2015 all to counterbalance the president\u2019s sometimes antagonistic rhetoric<\/a> and, reportedly, <\/a>his openness to a withdrawal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House last week passed a sweeping defense policy bill that would reaffirm strong congressional support for NATO and prohibit the use of U.S. funds to withdraw from the alliance. The Senate is expected to send the bill, the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act<\/a>, to Trump, who has said he will sign it into into law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The NDAA ensures that America not only is a reliable partner in NATO, but that NATO remains the cornerstone for peace and prosperity throughout the world,\u201d the author of the language, Rep. Jimmy Panetta, D-Calif., said in a statement last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The action is meant to reassure allies as trans-Atlantic ties have been frayed by disputes over defense spending, trade, America\u2019s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, and Turkey\u2019s invasion of northern Syria<\/a> as well as its purchase of a Russian air defense system.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panett visits the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center and Presidio of Monterey in early 2017. (Patrick Bray\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

House overwhelmingly passed<\/a> Panetta\u2019s language in January, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg made a warmly received joint address<\/a> to Congress in April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Dec. 11, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took a step of its own. Voting unanimously, the committee advanced a bipartisan bill that would require congressional approval before any U.S. withdrawal, in effect closing a loophole in the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To enter into a treaty requires the advice and consent of the Senate, and a two-thirds majority vote, the Constitution says, but it is silent on what it takes for presidents to exit a treaty \u2015 and it\u2019s assumed they can unilaterally withdraw. The Senate legislation would bar funding to leave NATO, absent a two-thirds vote to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The action comes weeks after leaders of the 29 NATO states met to mark the pact\u2019s 70th anniversary. The gathering was marked by a few sour notes<\/a>, including Trump calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau \u201ctwo-faced\u201d after a video emerged showing the Canadian leader gossiping about the U.S. president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

News reports Trump mulled a withdrawal have muddied the perception of America\u2019s commitment to the alliance, even as he said in January: “We will be with NATO 100 percent, but as I told the countries, you have to step up [defense spending].\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (C) gestures as NATO heads of government, including (L-R) Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg, Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, US President Donald Trump, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prepare to leave the stage after the family photo heading to the plenary session at the NATO summit at the Grove hotel in Watford, northeast of London, on Dec. 4, 2019. (Photo by Adrian Dennis\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

According to an NBC report<\/a> citing unnamed sources, Trump\u2019s former national security advisor, John Bolton, said in a private speech in November that if Trump is reelected, he could go full isolationist and withdraw the U.S. from NATO and other international alliances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will it matter?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if Congress prohibits Trump from exiting NATO, it may be of limited effect because he can undermine it in other ways, according to Jim Townsend, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Europe, now with the Center for a New American Security. The president has discretion to respond marginally to NATO operations or exercises \u2015 and to send junior officials to its high-level meetings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are a lot of ways to minimize our impact short of withdrawing, if that\u2019s really what he\u2019s up to,\u201d Townsend said of the president. \u201cBut if Congress is saying it\u2019s solidly behind NATO, I think that is reassuring.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In comparison to Trump\u2019s dismissal of \u201cdelinquent\u201d members at last year\u2019s NATO summit, Trump caused few fireworks in London this year, as a new cost-sharing arrangement<\/a> was established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Townsend said, Trump\u2019s changeability fuels mistrust among alliance members, and it\u2019s caused them to hedge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe he behaved himself during the London meetings, but that doesn\u2019t mean that, for some reason, he doesn\u2019t get pissed off and try to pull out,\u201d Townsend said. “While there is some reassurance with what the Hill says, and there is reassurance he behaved himself the past couple weeks, there is no trust anymore that you can depend on this being a course correction. He\u2019s too mercurial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a hallway interview at the Capitol, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jim Risch<\/a>, R-Idaho, downplayed the idea the action by his committee was sorely needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis country is committed NATO, it will always be committed to NATO. It\u2019s the most successful military alliance in the history of the world, and that\u2019s not going to change,\u201d Risch said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe allies are always nervous, primarily because we\u2019re the 800-pound gorilla and the glue that keeps that [alliance] together,\u201d he said. \u201cAs long as I\u2019ve been watching it, as long I have been in this business, they like reassurance, and we regularly give it to them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The spouse-employment bill introduced by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., doesn’t specifically discuss MyCAA expansion, but a Kaine staffer says a study mandated by the bill is intended to lead to wider program offerings. (Susan Walsh\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That reassurance is coming from both sides of the aisle. The bill that cleared Risch\u2019s committee was led by Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and co-sponsored by Sens. Cory Gardner, R-Colo.; Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Chris Coons, D-Del.; Marco Rubio, R-Fla.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Susan Collins, R-Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve slowly built a consensus among Democrats and Republicans that NATO has value, that the only benefactor if the U.S. pulled out of NATO would be [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and Russia,\u201d Kaine recently said on MSNBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees, Kaine originally introduced the bill with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who died in 2018. Kaine said French President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s criticism that NATO is experiencing \u201cbrain death\u201d because of America\u2019s lack of commitment is just one recent example of why reassurance is needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to make clear to our allies, to the president and especially to Russia that Congress supports the U.S. staying in NATO,” Kaine said, “and we\u2019re not going to let a president back out of it on his own.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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