The Senate votes to ratify NATO membership for Sweden and Finland
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer announced on Tuesday that the vote to approve the resolution ratifying Sweden and Finland’s application to NATO would take place, saying he had invited the ambassadors from Finland and Sweden to join the audience during debate and votes.
“Our NATO alliance is the foundation that has guaranteed democracy in the Western world since the end of World War II. This further strengthens NATO and is especially needed in light of recent Russian aggression,” Schumer said in remarks from the Senate floor.
“When Leader McConnell and I met with the President of Finland and the Prime Minister of Sweden in May, we committed to doing this as soon as we could and certainly before we go home for the August recess,” Schumer said.
Once the Senate approves Sweden and Finland’s NATO accession protocol, “the next step in the ratification process is for the president to sign an instrument of ratification of the treaty,” a State Department spokesperson told CNN.
“Once the president has signed an instrument of ratification, that instrument is deposited (in the case of a multilateral treaty) with the depositary of the treaty,” which in NATO’s case is the department, the spokesman said.
Those steps will not take place on the same day as the Senate approves, and the final arrangements for depositing the instrument of ratification have not yet been made, the spokesman told CNN.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, in remarks on the floor Wednesday ahead of the vote, predicted it would be “as decisive as it is bipartisan.”
McConnell argued that admitting Sweden and Finland to NATO “will only strengthen the most successful military alliance in human history.”
McConnell also used his time to take aim at lawmakers who do not support the resolution.
“If any senator is looking for a defensible excuse to vote no, I wish them well,” he said. “This is a slam dunk for national security that deserves unanimous bipartisan support.”
Sweden and Finland both announced their intention to join NATO in May, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a sudden shift in attitudes to joining the bloc.
“Finland and Sweden want to join the Atlanta Alliance to deter further Russian aggression in Europe,” he wrote. “That’s perfectly understandable given their location and security needs. But America’s greatest foreign adversary doesn’t loom over Europe. It looms in Asia. I’m talking, of course, about the People’s Republic of China. And when it comes to Chinese imperialism, the American people should know the truth: America is not ready to withstand it. Expanding American security commitments in Europe now would only make that problem worse — and America less safe.”
“As for Sweden and Finland, we still need serious, rational, objective debate about the costs and benefits of admitting two historically neutral nations that have such a strategic geographic position relative to Russia,” he wrote. “Before the Russian invasion, I would have said no. But given Russian actions, I have gone from being against their joining NATO to being neutral on the issue and as a consequence will vote ‘present.’
CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed to this report.