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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., announced on Wednesday that she had introduced an amendment to the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill of 2023 (MILCON VA) that would axe a $73 million increase for NATO’s “security investment program.”
She wrote on Twitter, “President Trump was right when he called out European nations for not paying their 2% GDP minimums. We must focus on putting America First, like securing our Southern border, not defending Ukraine’s democracy, which isn’t even a member country.”
The MILCON VA Act is described in the language of the bill as being aimed at supporting the U.S. military and their families in a variety of ways, ranging from housing and military community infrastructure to funding agencies like the American Battle Monuments Commission.
However, the bill oddly asks for another $10,000,000 “above the budget request for the NATO Security Investment Program” in light of “unprovoked Russian Federation invasion of the sovereign state of Ukraine” that began in 2022.
The Biden administration has taken a contrasting stance to the previous Trump administration in its approach to handling NATO.
Per Reuters, Biden has stated that the U.S. would remain committed to NATO, while Trump strongly threatened to withdraw America from the alliance due to Europe’s history of not paying their “fair share.”
“NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations, for 23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they’re supposed to be paying for their defense,” Trump stated in 2017, as reported by The New York Times.
“My amendment cuts the $73 million in funding for the NATO Security Investment Program,” Rep. Greene explained on Capitol Hill.
She concluded, “The United States overwhelming contributes more than our fair share to NATO for Europe’s defense and it’s time European countries pay their due. While our own country is overrun by border crossers and deadly fentanyl with 300 Americans being murdered daily, we continue to send hundreds of billions of dollars to NATO to defend Ukraine’s democracy, even though they aren’t a NATO-member nation. Investing in NATO security is an America LAST policy.”
