Sec. 2. Findings
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Congress makes the following findings: The COVID–19 global pandemic has highlighted the need for United States leadership to address the full range of international security challenges, which the Government of the United States can do by reaffirming its steadfast commitment to those mutually beneficial treaties and agreements forged with its European and Indo-Pacific allies, along with other states parties. For more than 70 years, the United States has shown a bipartisan commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), specifically to the principle of collective defense enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed at Washington April 4, 1949.
Section 1242 of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 ( Public Law 116–92 ) prohibited the use of funds for the United States withdrawal from the North Atlantic Treaty in recognition that the NATO alliance remains a cornerstone for peace and prosperity throughout the world. On January 22, 2019, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 676 (116th Congress) on a 357–22 vote, prohibiting the use of funds for the United States withdrawal from the North Atlantic Treaty, and on December 17, 2019, the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate reported out S.J.
Res. 4 (116th Congress), which, if enacted into law, would require approval of two-thirds of the Senate, or both Houses of Congress, before the President could withdraw the United States from the treaty. The Treaty on Open Skies provides a critical confidence-building measure for Euro-Atlantic security to the mutual benefit of the 34 States Parties to the treaty, and the Open Skies Consultative Commission
(OSCC)is one of the few remaining operational diplomatic forums from which the United States can engage with the Russian Federation. Although the Government of the United States is right to diplomatically press the Government of the Russian Federation to return to full compliance with its obligations under the Treaty on Open Skies, withdrawal or termination of the treaty would deprive United States allies and partners of the benefits derived from observation missions over Russian territory and Russian-occupied Eastern Ukraine, missions that have vastly outnumbered Russian overflights of United States territory since entry into force of the treaty. On May 22, 2020, President Trump submitted notice of the decision to withdraw the United States from the Treaty on Open Skies, and, in doing so, failed to comply with section 1234(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 ( Public Law 116–92 ), requiring the President to provide notification to Congress 120 days before the provision of notice of intent to withdraw the United States from that treaty. On July 7, 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo formally submitted a notice of the United States decision to withdraw from the World Health Organization, which, if such decision takes effect 1 year after that date and in accordance with other requirements under law, will deprive the World Health Organization of robust financial and technical contributions from the United States needed to strengthen the global response to the COVID–19 pandemic and address other health challenges. The Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of Korea, signed at Washington October 1, 1953, the ratification of which the Senate advised and consented to on January 26, 1954, was born from mutual sacrifice during the Korean War, is based on shared values and interests, and remains critical to the national security of the United States nearly 7 decades after its signing. A February 2020 report from the Department of State confirmed, in part, that verifiable limits on Russia’s strategic nuclear force under the New START Treaty currently contribute to the national security of the United States . A decision by the President to allow the New START Treaty to expire on February 5, 2021, without the United States having first successfully concluded a verifiable and binding agreement in its place, would lead to the United States losing visibility into the location, movement, and disposition of the strategic arsenal of the Russian Federation to the detriment of the national security of the United States and its allies. The Constitution of the United States provides Congress an important role in the treaty process, requiring the advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate for approval of a resolution of ratification.
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Sec. 2
Findings
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