H.Res. 397, Solemnly reaffirming the commitment of the United States to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s principle of collective defense as enumerated in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty

Floor Situation

On­­­­ Tuesday, June 27, 2017, the House will consider H. Res. 397, Solemnly reaffirming the commitment of the United States to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s principle of collective defense as enumerated in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, under suspension of the rules. H. Res. 397 was introduced by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on June 21, 2017 and was referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. 

Summary

H.Res. 397 solemnly reaffirms the commitment of the United States to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) principle of collective defense as enumerated in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty and strongly supports the decision at the NATO Wales summit in 2014 that each alliance member would spend at least 2 percent of its nation’s gross domestic product on defense by 2024.  In addition, the resolution condemns any threat to the sovereignty, territorial integrity, freedom, and democracy of any NATO ally and welcomes the Republic of Montenegro as the 29th member of the NATO alliance.

Background

The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C. on April 4 1949 among twelve founding members – the United States, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, and the United Kingdom.[1]

The following 17 nations joined the treaty later – Greece (1952), Turkey (1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), Czech Republic (1999), Hungary (1999), Poland (1999), Bulgaria (2004), Estonia (2004), Latvia (2004), Lithuania (2004), Romania (2004), Slovakia (2004), Slovenia (2004), Albania (2009), Croatia (2009), and Montenegro (2017).[2]

Article 5 of the treaty commits each member state to consider an armed attack against one member state, in Europe or North America, to be an armed attack against every member state. The only time Article 5 has been invoked is by the United States following the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.[3]

Cost

A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate is currently unavailable.

Staff Contact

For questions or further information please contact Dominique Yantko with the House Republican Policy Committee by email or at 6-1828.