---Armed Services Committee Schedules Hearing on NATO’s Future--- Feb. 15, 2002-- Washington, DC (JBANC) Sen. George Allen, junior Republican Senator from Virginia, announced on Thursday that he will join the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus, a working group with an interest in strong U.S.-Baltic relations. Senator Allen made the statement at a reception celebrating the anniversary of the independence of the Republic of Lithuania. He has been one of the staunchest supporters of the NATO enlargement process during his one year in office. In April 2001, he was one of 17 Senators who signed a letter asking President Bush to lead a strong enlargement process. President Bush came out strongly in favor of continued enlargement during a June 2001 speech in Warsaw and the Administration has favored plans for a robust enlargement since then. Sen. Allen is also a co-sponsor of the Freedom Consolidation Act (S. 1572), a bill which endorses the future vision of NATO enlargement and also authorizes increased military funding for many of the current NATO aspirant countries, including Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. A vote in the Senate on the bill is pending, due to a hold by Sen. John Warner (R-VA), who has asked for a closer look at the issue. With Sen. Allen, the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus will have eight members: founder and co-chair Sen. Richard Durbin (D-IL), co-chair Sen. Gordon Smith (R-OR), Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA), Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (R-IL). There are nearly seventy members in the House Baltic Caucus, co-chaired by Congressmen John Shimkus (R-IL) and Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). Lithuanian Ambassador Vygaudas Usackas remarked following the occasion at the Lithuanian Embassy that he welcomes Sen. Allen to the Caucus, and that besides strengthening personal ties between the Baltics and the Senator himself, Sen. Allen’s decision will also help to “strengthen interest in the Baltic states” in Congress. As a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Allen will be closely involved in the Senate NATO enlargement ratification debate. Preliminary debate regarding NATO’s mission, including enlargement, is already beginning. The Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI) has scheduled a hearing on the “Future of NATO” for February 28 (9:30 a.m. in room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building). Members of the Armed Services committee are listed on the committee’s webpage: http://www.senate.gov/~armed_services/members.htm. |
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