GOP Sens to Secretary Austin: NATO Is Not a Charity

A group of Republican senators led by Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Dan Sullivan of Alaska has raised concerns about NATO members' defense spending and urged Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to provide insight into the Department of Defense's evaluation process.

The senators, joined by 20 of their colleagues, on Thursday penned a letter to Austin, seeking clarification on how the department assesses U.S. activities in light of NATO members' defense expenditures.

Their inquiry stems from Section 1250 of the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which mandates consideration of whether NATO partners meet the requirement of spending at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.

"While we acknowledge the collective increase in defense spending by NATO countries in 2023, only 11 out of 32 members currently fulfill their defense spending commitments," the senators wrote. They emphasized that despite optimistic projections, a significant portion of NATO nations are expected to fall short of the 2% threshold.

Highlighting the burden-sharing dynamics within the alliance, the senators underscored the disproportionate reliance on the United States to bolster defense investments. They stressed that such reliance undermines the principle of collective defense and called for accountability among NATO members.

"NATO is not a charity; it's a military alliance," the senators wrote.

They requested an update from the DOD by April 25 on how U.S. activities are evaluated in light of NATO members' defense expenditures in accordance with the provisions of the FY24 NDAA.

Meanwhile, as NATO foreign ministers marked the alliance's 75th anniversary Thursday, some warned that Moscow remains a great threat and others expressed concern over stalled U.S. aid for Ukraine.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.

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