Posted on 06/18/2020 8:42:43 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
A pair of top Democrats has introduced a bill aimed at blocking President Trump’s plan to withdraw thousands of U.S. troops from Germany.
The bill, introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) and House Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) in their respective chambers, would prohibit funding to implement a withdrawal in Europe unless several conditions are met.
“The current U.S. troop presence in Germany is in the U.S. national security interest. Full stop,” Menendez said in a statement. “The administration has made no effort to explain how our country is stronger because of this drawdown decision. Because we’re not. This drawdown weakens America and Europe. And Vladimir Putin understands and appreciates that better than anyone.”
In his own statement, Engel said that “rather than heeding the overwhelming bipartisan rebuke from Congress about this scheme and its catastrophic consequences, President Trump has once again made foreign policy decisions based solely on his absurd affection for Vladimir Putin, a murderous dictator who has attacked America and our allies.”
Trump confirmed Monday that he plans to slash the number of U.S. troops in Germany, which is home to the U.S. military’s European and Africa command headquarters.
Trump, faulting Germany for not meeting NATO’s defense spending goal, said he would cut the number of troops to 25,000. There are about 35,000 troops there now, and the number can go as high as 52,000.
In 2014, NATO countries agreed to each spend 2 percent of their gross domestic products on their defense budgets by 2024. Just eight countries are at the 2 percent mark right now. Several others have plans to meet it by the deadline, but Germany is not on track to meet the goal.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Obama actually did reduce the troop count in Germany, and other places in Europe.
I am glad you called him that. Because too many here like him and a few years ago I read God bless you Putin on here. I respect Putin. I like that he’s trying to bring Christianity back to Russia even though I don’t believe he believes in Christianity at all. But he knows it is all that can save his country
But I don’t trust him. And I think he is a sinister dangerous individual
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