NATO Parliamentary Assembly Spring Session

As part of my work on the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, I joined our delegation to the Spring Session in Sofia, Bulgaria.  I can report that by the end of the year, two-thirds of our NATO allies will meet their 2% of GDP defense spending target.  This has been a major priority for our delegation, and I have been gratified to see European allies stepping up. This is vitally important as we fight back against dictators like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping who seek to grow their empires by any means necessary.  A consistent point made in our meetings was that we must set up Ukraine to win this unjust war so we can weaken Russia and deter it from attacking a NATO ally and forcing U.S. servicemembers to fight overseas.  We can and we must keep our commitments to Ukraine and provide necessary air defense and ammo so they can repel Putin and his army and emerge victorious.  One of the most important next steps is to free Ukraine to use U.S. weapons to truly fight back and attack the military targets inside Russia that Putin is using to stage devastating air strikes on Ukraine.  The Biden Administration has taken some steps to allow Ukraine to strike these targets, but it is moving much too slowly. The U.S. must remove these unnecessary blocks so Ukraine can win this war.

NATO is increasingly under threat from China as well, both in Europe and in the Indo-Pacific.  To counter the China-Russia axis of evil, NATO must prioritize defeating China’s efforts to dominate the Indo-Pacific region.  Many of our discussions centered around the increasingly large threat China poses not just to the Indo-Pacific region, but also here at home in America.  Xi Jinping continues to consolidate power and use his influence to control smaller nations, all to the detriment of our freedoms here at home.  It cannot be said enough, but a stable world ensures our freedoms, safety, and prosperity in the United States remain strong.  We will continue to work hand-in-glove with our NATO allies to push back against these growing dictatorships and threats to our way of life.