Republican Congressman Massie introduces bill for US to exit NATO
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established in 1949. The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in Washington, DC on April 4, 1949 by the foreign ministers of 12 countries: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.
As of December 2025, there are 32 member countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Sweden is the newest member, having officially joined the alliance on March 7, 2024.
The full list of NATO member states is available on the official NATO website and includes:
Albania, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Montenegro, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain Sweden, Turkey, United Kingdom and United States.
NATO has had 10 waves of expansion including three during the Cold War period (1952, 1955 and 1982) and seven after its end (1999, 2004, 2009, 2017, 2020, 2023 and 2024). Today NATO comprises 32 member states.
However now Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, a Kentucky representative, introduced a bill calling for the United States to withdraw from NATO.
“NATO is a Cold War relic,” the Republican Congressman wrote on the X social network. “We should withdraw from NATO and use that money to defend our own country, not socialist countries,” the legislator said, referring to the US expenditures in the military alliance.
The lawmaker added that he had submitted a bill to remove the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
The document says that European NATO members have sufficient economic and military capacity to provide for their own defense. The bill also states that the alliance began its large-scale expansion to the east in 1999, despite the loss of its relevance and statements to the contrary.
According to the document, NATO “no longer aligns with current US national security interests.”
It is not clear yet when the US House of Representatives may consider the bill. Before its review, the document should get approval from the relevant House committees.
Republican Massie has previously opposed US interference in the affairs of other countries and Washington’s use of force. In particular, he criticized US strikes on Iranian facilities on June 22 as a breach of the American Constitution. US President Donald Trump lashed out at Massie over these statements. He also said that he would support Massie’s rival in the Republican Party’s primary election contest.
