THE HAGUE – Yesterday, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and co-Chair of the Senate NATO Observer Group, and Senator Chris Coons (D-DE), Ranking Member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with Prime Minister Dick Schoof of the Netherlands ahead of the NATO Summit this week.
During the meeting, Senator Shaheen underscored the deep and bipartisan support for NATO among Congress and the American people. Senator Shaheen applauded the forthcoming announcement of an increased defense spending target for NATO Allies as a key milestone and example of robust burden sharing across the Atlantic. During the meeting, the Senators exchanged views on how to ensure that the additional funding maximally improves the Alliance's collective defense capabilities, with Senator Shaheen noting her concern that President Trump’s tariffs are making it harder for our allies to achieve their defense spending goals. Senator Shaheen and Senator Coons also reiterated the urgency of President Trump moving to ratchet up sanctions on Russia to bring Putin to the negotiating table, including by moving on the Graham-Blumenthal bill, which has 82 bipartisan sponsors in the Senate.
Lastly, the Senators thanked Prime Minister Schoof for hosting the NATO Summit and for the Netherlands’ strong support for Ukraine and the trans-Atlantic alliance.
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