Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) offered the measure as an amendment to a war department appropriations bill. If passed, it would have shifted “$481,832,000 from the NATO Security Investment Program” to military construction projects at U.S. bases.The NATO Security Investment Program is a pool of money that all 32 countries in the alliance contribute to, funding digital and infrastructure projects. The United States and Germany are the biggest contributors to the program.
“The U.S. keeps footing the bill for NATO while some of these countries refuse to fully back America when it actually matters,” Stuebe wrote in a post on X. “Taxpayers should not be subsidizing ‘allies’ who expect our protection but won’t show up for us.”
Steube’s amendment to include in the military appropriations bill was rejected by a 333-to-80 vote of the entire House.
The resounding opposition figure, however, obscures the GOP split on the issue. Overall, 127 Republicans joined with 205 Democrats and Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-CA), an independent who caucuses with the GOP, to defeat the measure.
“We sit here and defend them all, and then we get into a bind, and they just run for cover,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), who voted for the measure. “Yet, we’ve got all our military out there, all in their countries, protecting them. I’m kind of sick of it. We need to start looking after the good old US of A.”
