Senate Panel OKs Move to Expand NATO
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WASHINGTON — The Senate Foreign Relations Committee endorsed a measure Tuesday that would grant NATO membership to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic.
The resolution, passed by a margin of 16-2, is expected to come before the full Senate later this month, and an “overwhelmingly positive” vote was predicted by Sen. Jesse Helms R-N.C.), the committee chairman.
That would clear the way for the three former Soviet-bloc nations to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization later this year.
President Clinton welcomed what he called the committee’s “strong endorsement” of his administration’s push to expand NATO. “By adding these countries as newest allies, we will make NATO stronger, Europe more stable and American more secure,” he said.
Critics of the resolution contend an expanded NATO could entangle the United States in a series of Bosnia-style peacekeeping missions.
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