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Floor Speech

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Mr. KAINE. Madam President, I rise to discuss an amendment we will vote on later. When we vote on it, it is 1 minute a side, and I think it might take a couple of more minutes to explain a vote on NATO that is very powerful.

A few years ago, people were questioning the viability of NATO. Was it still worth it? Well, what President Biden and what this body have shown is that, with American leadership, NATO is stronger today than it has ever been. NATO's capacity and NATO's willingness to link arms and provide defense to Ukraine in the midst of an illegal invasion by a human-rights-abusing Vladimir Putin has been extremely powerful, and the value of NATO has been demonstrated to such a degree that even nations that never would have contemplated entering NATO in the past-- Finland and Sweden--have fought for accession and have been green-lit by this body and now the international community to join.

There is a question, though, that was coming up as people were talking about should we withdraw from NATO: How do you withdraw from a treaty? The Constitution is plain that, to enter into a treaty, you need a ratification vote by the Senate, but the Constitution is silent about withdrawal. So, in the last administration, a question came up about whether a President could withdraw from NATO unilaterally.

I have a bill that is bipartisan, together with Senator Rubio, and we will vote on it later this afternoon. It will specify that no President can unilaterally withdraw from NATO, and any effort to withdraw from NATO would have to be either approved by Senate ratification--a two-thirds vote--or by an act of Congress. This sends a powerful message that Congress, after these decades, still believes in the power of NATO.

Our allies who worry about different Presidents--should the policy change depending upon every 4 years who is President--would take this statement of congressional support in a very, very powerful way.

I am happy to say it is an overwhelmingly bipartisan bill that came through the Foreign Regulations Committee in the 117th Congress by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, and the administration supports it.

Finally, the question did come up once in a Supreme Court case from 1979, Goldwater v. Carter: How do you withdraw from a treaty? What the Supreme Court said is that it was a political question for the executive and legislature to work out.

We will take a legislative step, in my hopes today, as part of this NDAA, that when it is on the President's desk, by his ratification, we will demonstrate that in America both the executive and legislative branches appreciate NATO and are committed to its success.

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Mr. KAINE. Madam President, I call up amendment No. 429 and ask that it be reported by number.
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Mr. KAINE. Madam President, this is an amendment dealing with the power of the NATO alliance. We have seen since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine that NATO allows the democracies to link arms and stand courageously against an illegal invasion of Ukraine by the dictator Vladimir Putin.

Some had questioned the value of NATO, but NATO has demonstrated its power to protect democracy against this invasion since February of 2022.

There had been an issue raised in the last few years about whether any President could unilaterally withdraw from NATO, which was approved by the Senate in a treaty. The Constitution of the United States indicates that the Senate must ratify treaties but is silent about how to exit treaties. The U.S. Supreme Court, in 1979, said that is a political question for the legislature, the executive, to resolve.

What this amendment would do would make plain that no one can withdraw from NATO--the United States from NATO--without either a two- thirds vote in the Senate or an act of Congress.

We received a green light for this in the Goldwater v. Carter decision in 1979, and I think, of all the treaties the United States has entered into, right now at this moment, in the aftermath of the summit in Lithuania and during this war in Europe, this Congress should send a powerful message to our allies in NATO that we stand with this historic alliance.

The administration supports this amendment.

I would reserve the remainder of my time.

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Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, might I ask how much time I have remaining?

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Mr. KAINE. On the constitutional argument, my colleagues, this very question came before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1979. President Carter terminated a Taiwan-related treaty and was sued by Senator Goldwater and others. The case went to the United States Supreme Court. The Court said because the Constitution on exiting a treaty is silent, it is a political question that the legislature and Executive can resolve for themselves.

The Supreme Court refused to overturn Carter's action. That is a clear green light that if Congress, the legislative, and Executive branch agree that on this particular treaty the silence does not dictate but can be the source of legislation, we would be able to undertake this action.

Finally, I note this is widely bipartisan, and I thank Senator Rubio and many other Democratic and Republican colleagues who have cosponsored this amendment to stand strong at this moment with me.

With that, I yield.
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