Bill Details

SRES.75 - 119th Congress

Track A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that member countries of NATO must commit at least 2 percent of their national gross domestic product to national defense spending to hold leadership or benefit at the expense of those countries who meet their obligations.? Stop tracking A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that member countries of NATO must commit at least 2 percent of their national gross domestic product to national defense spending to hold leadership or benefit at the expense of those countries who meet their obligations.?

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Status
  1. Introduced
  2. Passed House
  3. Passed Senate
  4. To President
  5. Law
Latest action
2025-02-12 - Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. (text: CR S931)
Introduced Date
2025-02-12
Policy Area
International Affairs
Committees
View committees (1)
8
0

AI Summary This summary was generated by AI from the bill text. AI can get information wrong.

This resolution says the Senate believes every NATO member country should spend at least 2 percent of its economy on defense. It argues that countries that do not meet this goal should not get the benefits of NATO leadership or hosting major NATO events ahead of those that do meet their commitments. The resolution is meant to put pressure on NATO members to spend more on defense, especially before the NATO summit in June 2025. It does not change U.S. law, but instead states the Senate’s position on how NATO should handle countries that fall short of the spending target.

  • Only NATO members that meet the 2 percent defense spending goal should be eligible for top NATO leadership roles, including the Secretary General, Deputy Secretary General, and other senior positions.
  • Countries that do not meet the goal should also not host major NATO meetings or summits, such as the NATO Summit, foreign ministers’ meetings, parliamentary sessions, or youth summit events.
  • The resolution says the 2 percent target is a minimum, not a maximum, and notes that NATO leaders are considering even higher defense spending because of global security concerns.
  • It also says that 23 of NATO’s 31 members met the 2 percent goal in 2024, and that failing to meet the target has weakened NATO’s shared defense capacity over time.

Official Summaries

This resolution expresses the sense of the Senate that any NATO member country that does not meet its commitment to spend 2% of its gross domestic product on national defense should not be allowed to host certain NATO meetings that provide substantial economic benefits and international recognition, such as the NATO Summit and NATO Parliamentary Assembly sessions. The resolution also expresses that citizens of such countries should not be allowed to hold NATO leadership positions, such as Secretary General or military positions at the two-star level or above.

Current Full Text

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 75 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






119th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 75

 Expressing the sense of the Senate that member countries of NATO must 
 commit at least 2 percent of their national gross domestic product to 
national defense spending to hold leadership or benefit at the expense 
             of those counties who meet their obligations.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           February 12, 2025

Mr. Tillis (for himself, Mr. Justice, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Sheehy, Mr. Lee, 
Mr. Daines, and Mrs. Capito) submitted the following resolution; which 
           was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate that member countries of NATO must 
 commit at least 2 percent of their national gross domestic product to 
national defense spending to hold leadership or benefit at the expense 
             of those counties who meet their obligations.

Whereas, in 2014, the heads of state and governments of the member countries of 
        the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (commonly known as ``NATO'') 
        renewed their earlier commitment to invest 2 percent of their national 
        gross domestic product (referred to in this preamble as ``GDP'') to 
        defense spending to help ensure the continued military readiness of 
        NATO;
Whereas NATO considers the 2 percent commitment as a floor and not a ceiling for 
        what member countries of NATO have committed to invest in their national 
        defense efforts;
Whereas the current global security environment has caused the current 
        leadership of NATO and the United States to consider raising this 
        commitment even higher;
Whereas 23 of the 31 member countries spent at least 2 percent of their GDP on 
        national defense in 2024;
Whereas, since the year 2000, NATO has lost almost $2,000,000,000,000 in mutual 
        defense spending capability from member countries not meeting the 
        commitment of 2 percent of their GDP towards defense; and
Whereas it is in the interest of all member countries to meet the 2 percent 
        minimum commitment or have a plan in place to do so before the opening 
        session of the NATO Summit in The Hague, which is scheduled to take 
        place in June 2025: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) any citizen of a member country of the North Atlantic 
        Treaty Organization (commonly known as ``NATO'') that is not 
        meeting its commitment to spend 2 percent of its gross domestic 
        product (referred to in this resolution as ``GDP'') on national 
        defense should not be allowed to hold any position within the 
        leadership of NATO, including positions such as--
                    (A) the Secretary General of NATO;
                    (B) the Deputy Secretary General of NATO;
                    (C) any Assistant Secretaries General of NATO;
                    (D) the NATO Spokesperson; and
                    (E) any uniformed military leadership or command 
                positions within the structure of NATO at the 2-star 
                (OF-7) level or above; and
            (2) any member country of NATO that fails to meet its 
        commitment to spend 2 percent of its GDP on national defense 
        should not be allowed to host any significant formal or 
        informal meetings, conferences, or summits of NATO at the 
        ministerial level or above, outside established routine 
        corporate processes of NATO that direct military operations or 
        coordination at a headquarters location, that would provide 
        substantial economic benefit to the economy and enable the 
        ability for that member country to receive international 
        recognition, including--
                    (A) the NATO Summit;
                    (B) meetings of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs;
                    (C) NATO Parliamentary Assembly sessions; and
                    (D) the NATO Youth Summit or similar events.
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