Ahead of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Vilnius starting this week, Florida Republican U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rick Scott joined U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, in leading a bipartisan group of 34 senators in writing a letter to President Joe Biden urging the president to ensure NATO countries meet their defense spending commitments.
Since 2006, NATO member nations have agreed to commit a minimum of 2 percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to defense spending. The letter notes that despite increasing levels of aggressive behavior by authoritarian nations, particularly Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, many member states continue to fail to meet their treaty obligations.
While most of the senators who signed the letter were Republicans, five Democrats also signed the letter.
“As you prepare for the NATO summit this year in Vilnius, we write to underscore the critical need for NATO members to increase and fully meet defense spending commitments to the alliance. Failure of many of our allies – including some of NATO’s largest members – to meet commitments of 2 percent of GDP on defense has the potential to undermine American support for the alliance, severely limits Europe’s ability to contribute to our shared interest in defending against Russia, and is a source of long-term instability in Europe, not to mention frustration for American taxpayers,” the senators wrote.
“Although we appreciate the assistance that many of our European allies have provided Ukraine, the heavy European emphasis on economic and refugee assistance is directly attributable to the inability of many to meet their NATO commitments in a way the alliance demands. This has immediate implications in Ukraine where our allies could be a force multiplier in helping bring this conflict to a successful end… The lack of sufficient progress is politically and economically unsustainable. American citizens rightly question why our government disproportionately bears the burden – decade after decade – for Europe’s defense. In Vilnius, we respectfully request that you make this issue a top priority,” they added.
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