The Senate voted to ratify requests from Finland and Sweden to join NATO in an effort to combat Russian aggression following the invasion of Ukraine.
The measure, needing 67 votes in the 100-member Senate, passed 95-1, with one voting present. The proposal drew broad bipartisan support and the backing of both party leaders.
“Our NATO alliance is the bedrock that has guaranteed democracy in the Western world since the end of World War II,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “This strengthens NATO even further and is particularly needed in light of recent Russian aggression.”
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Some Republicans who voted no argued that the United States would be called on to defend the two new vulnerable NATO members at a time when it should scale back its presence in Europe to prepare for escalating tension with China.
“I’m not arguing for retreat and I’m not arguing for isolation. What I am arguing for is an end to the globalist foreign policy that has led our nation from one disaster [to] another for decades now. What I am arguing for is a return to the classic nationalist approach to American foreign policy that made our country great,” no-vote Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) said on the Senate floor Wednesday, adding, “In years past, NATO was a bulwark against an imperial Soviet Union. Today, the world’s greatest imperial threat is in China.”
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Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said admitting Finland and Sweden would be a “slam dunk for national security that deserves unanimous bipartisan support” and wished any senators looking for a “defensible” excuse to vote against the bill “good luck.”
Joining the alliance requires the unanimous approval of all 30 member states. Sweden and Finland were previously neutral buffer states between Western Europe and the former Soviet bloc but are casting their lots with the West as Russian aggression has escalated over the past six months. Turkey, which has taken a mediator stance between Kyiv and Moscow, may not approve of the expansion.
