S. 2174 — NATO Act

This section states congressional findings concerning the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), including its founding in 1949 to counter the Soviet Union; assurances by U.S. Secretary of State James Baker in 1990 against NATO's eastward expansion; NATO's expansion beginning in 1999, resulting in a land border with Russia exceeding 1,500 miles as of 2025; Russian security concerns articulated in doctrines, strategies, and a 2007 speech by President Vladimir Putin; Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine; NATO members' failure to rule out further expansion; U.S. predominance as the largest financial and military contributor despite the 2014 Wales Pledge for 2% of GDP defense spending (met by fewer than two-thirds of members); Europe's sufficient capacity to counter Russia without U.S. engagement; and the conclusion that U.S. NATO membership is inconsistent with U.S. national security interests.

This section directs the President, not later than 30 days after enactment, to give notice of denunciation of the North Atlantic Treaty consistent with Article 13, thereby initiating withdrawal of the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). (Thus, U.S. membership terminates one year after notice.)

This section declares that the Act satisfies the congressional authorization requirement of section 1250A of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024 (22 U.S.C. 1928f)—which prohibits the President from suspending, terminating, denouncing, or withdrawing the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty without two-thirds Senate concurrence or an Act of Congress. (Thus, the Act authorizes the President to take such actions.)

This section prohibits the use of any federal funds, whether authorized, appropriated, or otherwise made available, to finance U.S. contributions to the common-funded budgets of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), including the civil budget (for administrative costs), military budget (for operational requirements), and Security Investment Program (for infrastructure). (Thus, this ends all U.S. financial support for these shared NATO expenditures.)

This section provides a severability clause stating that if any provision of the Act, or its application to any person or circumstance, is held unconstitutional, the remainder of the Act and the application of that provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.