“We should withdraw from NATO and use that money to defend our own country, not socialist countries.”
Representative Thomas Massie has introduced a resolution that would end the United States’ membership in the North American Treaty Organization, NATO.
“NATO is a Cold War relic. We should withdraw from NATO and use that money to defend our own country, not socialist countries,” Massie said in a statement. “NATO was created to counter the Soviet Union, which collapsed over thirty years ago. Since then, U.S. participation has cost taxpayers trillions of dollars and continues to risk U.S. involvement in foreign wars. Our Constitution did not authorize permanent foreign entanglements, something our Founding Fathers explicitly warned us against. America should not be the world’s security blanket—especially when wealthy countries refuse to pay for their own defense.”
Massie’s proposal, known as the NATO Act, would require the president to formally notify NATO of the United States’ withdrawal under Article 13 of the North Atlantic Treaty. Article 13 of the treaty says that “After the Treaty has been in force for twenty years, any Party may cease to be a Party one year after its notice of denunciation has been given to the Government of the United States of America, which will inform the Governments of the other Parties of the deposit of each notice of denunciation.”
The act would declare that NATO’s original Cold War purpose no longer aligns with current United States national security interests and argues that European NATO members have both the economic and military capability to provide for their own defense. It would also prohibit the use of taxpayer funds for NATO’s common budgets.
Representative Anna Paulina Luna posted on X that she is co-sponsoring the resolution. Senator Mike Lee introduced companion legislation in the Senate earlier this year.
It is unclear whether the House will take up the bill. President Trump has been outspoken against NATO dating back to his first term, and has been critical of the usefulness of the organization. Trump has repeatedly demanded that NATO allies increase defense spending, and in a recent interview said that “NATO calls me daddy,” highlighting the reliance on the US of NATO’s European members.