Congressional Documents
[Page: S2390]
Mr. STEVENS. Mr. President, I am going to speak for a few minutes about the issue of NATO expansion, and I want to offer these two amendments today. These amendments, I believe, will serve to bring greater accountability to the unresolved issue of the additional costs that will result with the accession of Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic to the NATO alliance.
My first amendment requires all costs related to either the admission of new NATO members or their participation in NATO to be specifically authorized by law prior to the payment of these costs. I am speaking of the U.S. costs. Our U.S. costs would have to be specifically authorized by law before they could be paid.
Actually, this ought to be the proper interpretation of the Constitution. But too often we find that costs--particularly those of foreign policy objectives supported by the Department of Defense--are incurred and then we are asked to pay for them in the budget process later.
The costs related to NATO enlargement are still general estimates, but the debate is continuing as to what is actually required and what portion of these requirements should be paid by the NATO common budgets. These estimates will continue to evolve and change in the coming months, well past the completion of the NATO expansion debates here in this Chamber.
U.S. costs could increase as NATO finalizes its implementation plans and eligibility criteria for common funding, or if new member countries have problems paying for infrastructure improvements. A Congressional Budget Office study released last week confirms that the United States is likely to incur bilateral costs for expanded exercises, training, and programs to incorporate NATO compatible equipment into the central European militaries.
My amendment would ensure a more accurate accounting for, and explanation of, the actual costs related to NATO enlargement as the process continues to develop.
My second amendment will restrict the use of funds for payment of NATO costs after September 30 of this year unless the Secretaries of Defense and State certify to the Congress that the total percentage of NATO common costs paid by the United States will not exceed 20 percent during the NATO fiscal year. Historically, NATO has not systematically reviewed or renegotiated member cost shares for the common budgets. This amendment would effectively require a reduction of the U.S. percentage paid in support of NATO common budget costs from a historic average of 24 or 25 percent. And I believe it is actually higher than that, but that is the average that they use. This is a reassessment that is long overdue in light of U.S. global defense responsibilities.
We have to remember that NATO was formed at the time when we were coming out of World War II, before the United States had started really to carry out its global responsibilities. When Spain joined NATO in 1982, there were pro rata adjustments to the civil and military budget shares based upon Spain's increased contribution. No other formal renegotiations have occurred since 1955 in these two common budget areas. The NSIP--or NATO infrastructure budget--has been adjusted five times since 1960, but that was due more to the way projects were approved and funded than any actual attempt to reallocate the percentages.
With the amount included in the emergency supplemental that we will consider today, the United States will have expended over $7.5
billion for operations in and around Bosnia and the former Yugoslavia by the end of fiscal year 1998. Mr. President, it is estimated that the United States is paying over 50 percent of the costs of maintaining the peace in Bosnia--nearly $200 million a month in 1997 alone--and there is no end in sight to the U.S. presence there with the President's decision to keep deployments there indefinitely.
Our defense overseas funding in NATO countries--the cost of maintaining our forces there, including the operations and maintenance, military pay, family housing, and military construction--now averages nearly $10 billion a year. Security assistance to the NATO allies since 1950--this is the military assistance and military education and training--has totaled over $19 billion.
No other member of NATO has the global defense role of the United States, nor does any other member have the forward-deployed presence in potential flash point areas such as the Middle East or the Korean peninsula.
There is just no alternative but to take the two steps that I am going to ask the Senate to propose to the House and to the President by these two amendments.
I would like to introduce the amendments.
The first is an amendment that I mentioned to require prior specific authorization of funds before U.S. funds may be used to pay NATO enlargement costs. It is cosponsored by Senators Byrd, Campbell, Roberts, Thurmond, and Warner.
The second amendment is the amendment to require that certification of payments to NATO will not cause the U.S. share of NATO common budget accounts or activities to exceed 20 percent, and that is cosponsored by Senators Byrd, Campbell, Roberts and Warner.
I thank the Chair. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Collins). The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. KENNEDY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
The Senator from Massachusetts is recognized.