Shaheen, Tillis Host NATO Secretary General in Washington
Senators Shaheen, Tillis and Rounds with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington, DC earlier today.
(Washington, DC) – U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, issued the following joint statement after hosting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in Washington, DC for a meeting with Senators on Capitol Hill. The meeting included Senators Rounds (R-SD), Van Hollen (D-MD), Moran (R-KS) and King (I-ME).
“We appreciate Secretary General Stoltenberg’s time this morning to meet with members of the Senate NATO Observer Group, and commend him for his steadfast leadership of the transatlantic Alliance. NATO has stood unequivocally with Ukraine as it defends itself against Putin’s unprovoked, premeditated invasion,” said Shaheen and Tillis. “Over the past year, NATO Allies proved that the transatlantic relationship is the strongest it has ever been. Together, NATO members have met the moment and delivered vital military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The Alliance’s message to Putin is clear: he will not be allowed to dismantle our world order or threaten democracies without facing severe consequences. In our meeting with the Secretary General today, we reaffirmed our bipartisan resolve in the United States for NATO and vowed to continue working beside our Allies to support Ukraine and address the other pressing challenges facing the transatlantic Alliance, including Sweden and Finland’s accession, the critical role of the Black Sea region and the increasing importance of Indo-Pacific security. There are serious threats to our national and collective global security, but nothing we cannot handle with our Allies by our side.”
As co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observer Group, Shaheen and Tillis led a bipartisan congressional delegation to the NATO Summit in Madrid, with additional stops in Finland and Sweden regarding NATO accession. They previously led a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers in a joint statement of support and a letter to President Biden, calling for Finland and Sweden’s swift accession into NATO in response to the respective nations announcing their intent to join the transatlantic Alliance. The Senate NATO Observer Group, re-established by Shaheen and Tillis in 2018, has an expanded mission to closely monitor and inform Senators outside of national security committees about defense spending commitments of Alliance members, the process of upgrading military capabilities, the Alliance’s counter-terrorism capabilities, NATO enlargement and the ability of NATO member states to address unconventional warfare threats.
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