As Defense Secretary James Mattis and Vice President Mike Pence met with their European counterparts last week, they both delivered a hard truth that friends of the United States needed to hear: it’s time for other members of NATO to start shaping up and pulling their weight.

“No longer can the American taxpayer carry a disproportionate share of the defense of Western values,” Mattis told his NATO defense colleagues in a private session. “Americans cannot care more for your children’s future security than you do.”