TANSTAAFL: Senators Slam NATO ‘Free-Riders’ in Closed-Door Meeting With Secretary General. [archive]

During a closed-door meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Capitol Hill, . . . senators grilled [him] about why only five members of the 28-nation club spend at least 2 percent of their gross domestic product on defense, the official amount NATO recommends each nation set aside. . . .

Corker said Trump’s campaign rhetoric speaks to a concern he’s heard from his own Tennessee constituents, which he relayed to Stoltenberg.

“I did mention to him that there’s a populism that is taking place within our country right now, both sides of the aisle,” said Corker. “The American people know that we are a nation spending way beyond our means and when our European counterparts are not honoring their obligations as they should, at some point, there’s going to be a breaking point.”

Last year, the U.S. accounted for more than 72 percent of NATO members’ total defense expenditures, spending about $649.9 billion. The other 27 NATO members combined to spend less than 28 percent, or about $251 billion, of the total.

After exiting the meeting with Stoltenberg, Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, added his dismay that defense spending for “very few” of America’s allies is “where it ought to be.”

“The issue of the other countries paying their full share is not an outlier view at all,” he said.