BREAKING – Senate Foreign Relations Committee Advances Treaty to Ratify Finland & Sweden’s Accession into NATO
**Shaheen is chair of the Senate NATO Observer Group and has led bipartisan action in the Senate in support of the transatlantic Alliance**
**Shaheen led a bipartisan congressional delegation to the NATO Summit in Madrid last month with Senate NATO Observer Group co-chair Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) **
(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and Chair of the SFRC Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation, issued the following statement after the Committee approved of accession protocols for Finland and Sweden’s accession into NATO.
“Today’s vote not only reaffirms the overwhelming bipartisan support in the U.S. Senate for NATO, but marks a historic moment and step forward for the transatlantic Alliance,” said Shaheen. “As Putin wages his unprovoked, premeditated war in Ukraine – and eyes other vulnerable states in the region – the global community is speaking in one voice and working together in lockstep in defiance of his aggression. Vladimir Putin, nor any adversary who threatens our rules-based order, will be allowed to target or threaten sovereign nations, democratic values or our global security without recourse. I’m pleased by the Committee’s swift action and urge Senate leadership to quickly follow suit.”
As co-chair of the Senate NATO Observer Group, which Shaheen re-started with Senator Tillis in 2018, Shaheen recently led a bipartisan group of lawmakers to the NATO Summit in Spain, in addition to stops in Finland and Sweden in support of their NATO membership aspirations. Shaheen and Tillis also?led?a bipartisan coalition of 80 lawmakers in a joint statement of support and a?letter to President Biden, calling for Finland and Sweden’s swift accession into NATO.?Shaheen is also a member of the Senate Ukraine Caucus and leads action in the U.S. Senate in support of Ukraine in response to Vladimir Putin’s belligerence, which also threatens the stability and security of Eastern Europe and NATO allies. Recently,?legislation co-led by Shaheen to speed up military assistance to Ukraine and Eastern European nations was signed into law. In February, Shaheen led a successful bipartisan effort with Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) to pass a resolution that conveys a renewed and overwhelmingly bipartisan message from the U.S. Senate in fierce support of Ukraine. Earlier this year, Shaheen and Portman led a bipartisan delegation to Ukraine, where they met with President Zelenskyy and members of his administration. Before the Shaheen-Portman congressional delegation visit to Ukraine in January, Shaheen led a bipartisan group of lawmakers to Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, last June.
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