{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sullivan-natos-minimum-defense-spending-commitment-must-increase-to-confront-dangerous-times", "Sullivan: NATO\u2019s Minimum Defense Spending Commitment Must Increase to Confront Dangerous Times", "2024-07-09", "2024", "2024-07", "Republican", "Senate", "AK", "Dan Sullivan", "S001198", "www.sullivan.senate.gov", "sullivan", "https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases?PageNum_rs=12", "scraper", "Senator Sullivan says Canada Must Stop \u2018Freeloading\u2019 off U.S.\n\nWASHINGTON\u2014U.S. Senator Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) and chairman of the International Republican Institute (IRI), released the following statement as the annual North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit began today in Washington. Senator Sullivan met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today and is scheduled to meet with other high-ranking foreign officials throughout the week.\n\n\u201cSince NATO last convened a year ago, the world has only become more dangerous with dictators in Russia, China, and Iran increasingly working together to undermine America\u2019s national security interests and those of our allies,\u201d Senator Sullivan said. \u201cOur NATO allies must do more to confront this moment, particularly our friends in Canada who continue to freeload off this alliance and have yet to even present a real plan to meet the two percent of GDP minimum defense spending commitment all NATO countries agreed to meet. This must change. There is no excuse. Whether our allies meet these commitments is critical, not just to meet the expectations of the American taxpayer, but also to ensure the long-term health of the NATO alliance.\n\n\u201cWhile I\u2019m encouraged that new NATO estimates project more NATO members meeting their defense spending commitments, Congress is watching to ensure they follow through.\n\n\u201cGiven these dangerous times, the alliance must do more. We must start working toward a greater defense spending commitment than the current two percent of GDP defense spending benchmark that better reflects this new era of authoritarian aggression we find ourselves in.\u201d\n\nBACKGROUND:\n\nIn 2023, Senator Sullivan succeeded in including a provision in the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that became law requiring the Secretary of Defense to prioritize those NATO member countries that have achieved defense spending of not less than 2 percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) by 2024 when making decisions about U.S. military basing, training, and exercises. After passage of his amendment, Senator Sullivan pressed the Secretary of Defense to ensure he follows through as the law requires.\n\nAhead of the 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, Senator Sullivan led a bipartisan group of 35 senators in writing a letter to President Biden urging the President to ensure NATO countries meet their defense spending commitments.\n\nIn August 2022, Senator Sullivan\u2019s amendment declaring that all NATO allies should meet their funding obligations unanimously passed the Senate as part of a resolution approving Finland and Sweden\u2019s ascension to the NATO alliance.\n\n# # #", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:32:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.sullivan.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/sullivan-natos-minimum-defense-spending-commitment-must-increase-to-confront-dangerous-times"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7240730337798595, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}