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WASHINGTON – Today, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Rep. Foxx’s (R-N.C.) amendment to H.R. 2500, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020. In recent years, America’s European allies have expanded their defense agreements within and beyond the EU through a military pact called Pesco and a €13 billion European Defense Fund (EDF). European member states have routinely failed to meet defense investment targets pursuant to NATO commitments, and these additional alliances stand to create divergent funding commitments and defense priorities.

Rep. Foxx stated, “As some European capitals push for the formation of a European Union Army, my amendment sends a clear signal to the European Union on the importance of the primacy of NATO over our shared defense interests. It expresses the importance of NATO centrality over our defense policy architecture and the necessity of military system interoperability and burden-sharing efforts among NATO allies. EU defense investments should take place under the NATO umbrella to ensure accountability and the guarantee of U.S. influence.”

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U.S. Rep. Virginia Foxx represents North Carolina’s 5th Congressional District and is Republican Leader of the House Committee on Education and Labor.