WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic and Republican senators renewed their efforts to prevent any US president from leaving NATO on Wednesday, as alliance leaders attended an eventful summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
The joint resolution, seen by Reuters, is a new attempt by Congress to prevent the president from withdrawing from the coalition without Senate approval.
“The President may not suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which was done in Washington, D.C., April 4, 1949, except by the advice and consent of the Senate, provided that two-thirds of the members of the Senate sitting assent or by an Act of Congress , according to the procedure.
Co-sponsors include Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committee, and Republican Senator Marco Rubio, vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, who is also a ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee.
The bill has been introduced repeatedly in recent years, including during the tenure of former Republican President Donald Trump, who expressed the desire of the United States to withdraw from the military alliance.
It has not yet passed the full Senate, but a Kaine aide noted that it was backed by the Foreign Relations Committee last year with strong bipartisan support, and that given the war in Ukraine and NATO’s expansion, backers expect stronger support than ever. .
The current president, Democrat Joe Biden, has been a staunch supporter of NATO, supporting its expansion and working with other members, particularly on the response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He is expected to celebrate his unity on Ukraine in a speech at the Vilnius summit on Wednesday.
The summit included an inaugural session of the NATO-Ukraine Council, a body set up to improve relations between Kiev and the 31-member transatlantic military alliance.
(Reporting) By Patricia Zengerli, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien
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