The House of Representatives passed Congressman Gerry Connolly’s (D-VA-11) resolution supporting NATO and calling on President Joe Biden to support establishing a Center for Democratic Resilience (CDR) within NATO. The resolution received Democratic support and significant support from Republicans, but 30 percent of House Republicans voted against the bill, including half of Virginia’s Republican congressmen.
“Our commitment to shared democratic values is what distinguishes NATO from other military alliances,” Connolly said in a Tuesday press release. “Without it, NATO is just another military block that does not like Russia. This commitment cannot remain purely aspirational or rhetorical. It must be operationalized. This is why we believe that we need formal architecture in NATO itself. There are divisions and units within NATO dedicated to collective defense, terrorism, hybrid warfare, cyber, climate change, and all other security challenges. But after 72 years, there’s not even a broom closet in NATO headquarters dedicated to democratic institution building.”
As a resolution, the legislation is essentially a declaration of House priorities. It cites the threats to democracies posed by authoritarian regimes like Russia and China and states:
“That the House of Representatives (1) reaffirms its unequivocal support for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as an alliance founded on democratic principles; (2) calls on the President to use the voice and vote of the United States to adopt a new Strategic Concept for NATO that is clear about its support for shared democratic values and committed to enhancing NATO’s capacity to strengthen democratic institutions within NATO member, partner, and aspirant countries; and (3) calls on the President to use the voice and vote of the United States to establish a Center for Democratic Resilience within NATO headquarters.
Connolly and Congressman Michael Turner (R-OH-10) sponsored the legislation. Connolly is the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, and he previously proposed creating a CDR within NATO in 2019, which was supported by the parliamentary assembly and other related groups, according to Connolly’s release.
The release says the CDR could assist governments in developing laws and policies to combat corruption, improve election integrity, and monitor human rights, along with monitoring threats to democracy.
Representatives Rob Wittman (R-VA-01) and H. Morgan Griffith (R-VA-09) joined all Virginia Democrats voting in favor of the resolution. Representatives Ben Cline (R-VA-06) and Bob Good (R-VA-05) voted against the resolution.
In a statement, Good said, “Rep. Connolly’s resolution was flawed because it wants to entrench an office in NATO that is more interested in politically charged speech than the defense of Europe from Russian aggression. We don’t need this meaningless resolution to say that NATO is strong or that the United States will stand with our allies.”
– – –
Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
