U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky realizes his country won’t be able to become a member of NATO at least until its war with Russia is over. Here, Shaheen, left, met with Zelensky, seated at far right, during the anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France last month. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., is seated at the other end of the table with Shaheen and a bipartisan group of senators who got a briefing from Zelensky on the progress of the conflict.
U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky realizes his country won’t be able to become a member of NATO at least until its war with Russia is over. Here, Shaheen, left, met with Zelensky, seated at far right, during the anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France last month. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., is seated at the other end of the table with Shaheen and a bipartisan group of senators who got a briefing from Zelensky on the progress of the conflict.
WASHINGTON — Bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ensures that the U.S.’s solid relationship with the alliance will continue whether President Joe Biden wins reelection this fall or not, according to U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H.
A senior Democrat on the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, Shaheen says Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky realizes that his country cannot become a member nation until the war with Russia is over, but it is making progress towards that goal.
“It’s not only an alliance of defense, it’s also an alliance of values. There are reforms expected of NATO countries to join and I think Ukraine is working hard to address those (domestic) reforms,” Shaheen said during an interview in advance of the July 9-11, NATO Summit in Washington, D.C.
Shaheen and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, co-chair the U.S. Senate NATO Observer Group that the pair founded in 2018.
They will be monitors and participants at the summit that will mark NATO’s 75th Anniversary.
An important item on Shaheen’s to-do list is to update how NATO countries are addressing the need to involve more women directly in diplomatic negotiations across the globe.
Shaheen authored a 2017 law that requires women’s participation throughout U.S. national security processes and policies.
“Most NATO countries have already adopted this in some form, the summit is a way to highlight what is happening and what still needs to be done,” Shaheen said.
A United Nations report found that meaningful involvement in peace talks globally fell to only 16% in 2022, down from 23% in 2020.
“The research is undeniable; when women are at the negotiating table, the prospects for longer-lasting agreements go up substantially,” Shaheen said. “We’ve got to continue to make more progress in this area including right here at home.”
At the summit, Shaheen will take part in a roundtable on this initiative.
Former President Donald Trump, while in office, had frigid relations with NATO and even last year mused about the notion of withdrawing from the alliance.
Two important things have changed since Trump was president, Shaheen said.
Allies have responded to Trump demands
Member nations have responded to Trump and Biden’s call for more of them to meet NATO’s target of spending at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.
Currently 23 of the alliance’s 32 countries have met that standard and the others have adopted plans to get there, Shaheen said.
In addition, the Congress passed and Biden signed last December a law that requires a two-thirds vote in the U.S. Senate before America can leave NATO.
“Senator Tillis and I, we talked about this frequently, the importance of sending a strong message not just to a future president but to our allies and our adversaries that there is bipartisan support and this is going to continue regardless of who the next president is,” Shaheen said.
The 2023 summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, revealed strong reservations among some NATO members for Ukraine joining the alliance though the event did affirm even more NATO support for defending that country against the Russian invasion.
Shaheen said she spoke with Zelensky about Ukraine’s future in NATO when they met at the anniversary of the D-Day invasion in Normandy, France last month.
“He acknowledged that while the war is ongoing that (NATO membership) is problematic but the efforts NATO extended at that summit moved the issue forward. The security and bilateral agreements that were reached provide that bridge to reassure Ukraine of the alliance’s continued support,” Shaheen said.
Shaheen said since Congress passed the $60 billion aid package for Ukraine last April, she has met with New Hampshire contractors that will benefit from it since $25 billion will be spent on U.S.-made weapons and support systems, including $3.3 billion in the submarine field that could include contracts for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
“The war in Ukraine really provided a wakeup call for us that our military industrial base has not kept up with what’s needed to address these conflicts in the world,” Shaheen added.
“We have to do a lot better at this to sustain our own national security.”
