IV 
118TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. RES. 607 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the majority 
of NATO member countries have failed to meet their defense spending 
commitment and that the United States should not continue to subsidize 
the security of countries that choose not to invest in their own defense. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 20, 2023 
Mr. ROY (for himself and Mr. DAVIDSON) submitted the following resolution; 
which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that 
the majority of NATO member countries have failed 
to meet their defense spending commitment and that 
the United States should not continue to subsidize the 
security of countries that choose not to invest in their 
own defense. 
Whereas, on April 4, 1949, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, 
France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, 
Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United 
States signed the North Atlantic Treaty in Washington, 
DC, and established the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza-
tion (NATO) to safeguard the Allies’ freedom and secu-
rity by political and military means; 
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•HRES 607 IH 
Whereas Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty states that 
an armed attack against a member country shall be con-
sidered an attack against all; 
Whereas, in the Report of the Secretary of State to the Presi-
dent on North Atlantic Treaty on April 7, 1949, Sec-
retary of State Dean Acheson stated, ‘‘that no party can 
rely on others for its defense unless it does its utmost to 
defend itself and contribute toward the defense of the 
others’’; 
Whereas, in 2006, NATO Defense Ministers agreed to annu-
ally commit a minimum of 2 percent of their nation’s 
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on their defense; 
Whereas, according to NATO, the 2-percent GDP defense 
spending threshold ‘‘serves as an indicator of a country’s 
political will to contribute to NATO’s common defense’’; 
Whereas, in 2014, in response to Russia’s annexation of Cri-
mea, the NATO alliance adopted the ‘‘Defence Invest-
ment Pledge’’ and at that time only three of the 28 
NATO member countries were meeting their 2-percent 
defense spending commitment; 
Whereas the Wales Summit Declaration issued by the NATO 
alliance stated, ‘‘We agree to reverse the trend of declin-
ing defence budgets, to make the most effective use of 
our funds and to further a more balanced sharing of 
costs and responsibilities. Our overall security and 
defence depend both on how much we spend and how we 
spend it.’’; 
Whereas the ‘‘Defence Investment Pledge’’ recommitted 
NATO member countries to meeting the minimum 2-per-
cent GDP defense spending target by 2024; 
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•HRES 607 IH 
Whereas the Senate supported the 2014 Wales Summit De-
fense Spending Benchmark on March 28, 2017, by rati-
fying the ‘‘Protocol to the North Atlantic Treaty of 1949 
on the Accession of Montenegro’’ on a vote of 97–2; 
Whereas, according to the 2022 Secretary General’s Annual 
Report, only seven of the 30 NATO member countries 
met the 2-percent GDP defense spending obligations in 
2022; 
Whereas Estonia, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and the 
United Kingdom all successfully joined the United States 
in meeting the minimum 2-percent GDP defense spend-
ing obligations in 2022; 
Whereas Croatia, France, Slovakia, Romania, the Nether-
lands, North Macedonia, Norway, Albania, Bulgaria, 
Italy, Germany, Hungary, Denmark, Portugal, Turkey, 
Montenegro, the Czech Republic, Canada, Slovenia, Bel-
gium, Spain, and Luxembourg failed to meet the GDP 
defense spending obligations in 2022; 
Whereas numerous NATO member countries use the United 
States security umbrella to evade the financial commit-
ment needed to maintain the military strength of the 
NATO alliance; 
Whereas the 2022 Secretary General’s Annual Report re-
vealed— 
(1) the United States accounted for 54 percent of 
the Allies’ combined GDP and 70 percent of combined 
defense expenditure; 
(2) Canada’s defense spending amounted to 1.29 
percent of its GDP, making it the fifth-lowest-spending 
NATO member country as a percentage of GDP; and 
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