Commending the NATO School for its critical support of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) efforts to promote global peace, stability, and security.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 527) commending the NATO School for its critical support of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) efforts to promote global peace, stability, and security, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, this resolution commending the NATO School for its critical efforts to promote peace, stability and security is something long overdue, in my opinion.

Last year, I had the honor of participating in a visit of the bipartisan House delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly to the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany. The NATO School's mission is to provide courses in support of the current and developing NATO strategy and policy, including cooperation and dialogue with military and civilian personnel from non-NATO countries. As such, the school serves as NATO's premier operational-level education and training center, and it plays, I can tell you, a crucial role in preparing the United States and its allies to face the evolving security challenges of the 21st century.

Since 1953, more than 185,000 officers, noncommissioned officers and civilians from all allied and national military commands within the NATO Alliance have attended courses at the school. In addition, students from the Alliance's Partnership for Peace Program and the Mediterranean Dialogue attend the school. I'm proud to report that ours was the first U.S. congressional delegation to visit the NATO School in its 57-year history.

The curriculum taught at the NATO School offers our soldiers, civilian leaders and allies over 90 different specialized courses on subjects such as arms control strategies, counterinsurgency training, intelligence gathering, electronic warfare, special operations and a host of other programs. Courses are continually revised and updated to reflect current operations and developments in NATO, and in so doing, the school strives for top-down clarity of vision in the educational process.

With the unveiling of NATO's new Strategic Concept earlier this month in Lisbon, which details NATO's evolving role in global affairs, it is especially important that we stop and take a moment to acknowledge and support the work of the NATO School so that we can continue to operate as a truly unified alliance.

I would ask our colleagues to support this resolution.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

Thank you, Mr. Poe.

At this time, it is with a great deal of pleasure that I yield 3 minutes to my colleague, David Scott, from Georgia. Mr. Scott is a member of the NATO parliamentary delegation from the Congress to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly headquartered in Brussels, and he has made an enormous contribution in that area.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Thank you very much, Mr. Tanner. I certainly appreciate that.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in order to recognize and commend the NATO School for its critical support of NATO's efforts to promote global peace, stability and security. As a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, I have seen firsthand and I have been a part of and supported the many great efforts of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to maintain security and favorable relations between not only the NATO member states but with those states that are outside of the region and our 28-nation Alliance.

Mr. Speaker, for over 60 years, NATO has been the foundation in maintaining trans-Atlantic security and defense. It has successfully defended the territories of its North American and European member states from numerous external threats while promoting democracy and its values throughout the Western World and Eurasia. Since NATO's beginning, the NATO School in Germany has served as a premier operational-level education and training facility and has supplemented the knowledge, skills and experience of over 185,000 officers, noncommissioned officers, and civilians from NATO-allied and partner nations.

Mr. Speaker, I have visited the NATO School personally during a recent trip to Germany, and I have seen firsthand the extraordinary and effective job that they are doing. As NATO continues to evolve and transform to address 21st century threats, the NATO School's importance is all the more emphasized. Its support role is critical to NATO's ongoing operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, Kosovo and elsewhere, and the NATO School continues to provide much of the training for personnel serving in NATO stabilization mission in Afghanistan and conducts much of NATO's out-of-country training of Iraqi military officers. It is very important to note that the training and education the school provides beyond strictly military strategies, including civil-military cooperation, crisis management, and peace support operations and arms control and nonproliferation, issues that draw upon a range of military, development and governance tools.

Our recognition of the NATO School today, Mr. Speaker, falls just 2 days after confirmation that six NATO troops were killed during training operations in eastern Afghanistan. Their sacrifices underscore the continued importance and relevance of NATO and the NATO School as it evolves in the 21st century, making our Nation's commitment to the organization and its efforts to promote global peace and democracy all the more important.

So this resolution is very important, and I commend the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Tanner), who is also the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. And I commend him not only for this resolution, but I commend Mr. Tanner also for the extraordinary service that he has given over the years to NATO.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I want to first congratulate the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Tanner) for sponsoring this legislation, and I rise in strong support of House Resolution 527, which commends the NATO School in Oberammergau, Germany, for its critical support of the NATO Alliance's efforts to promote global peace, stability and security.

The NATO School in Germany provides support and training for NATO's operations, including the stabilization mission in Afghanistan and the training of Iraqi officers. The school offers courses and programs to individuals from different countries focusing on peace support operations, arms control and nonproliferation, civil-military cooperation, governance and the building of military capacity in aspiring NATO member states.

As we all know, the NATO Alliance was the heart of trans-Atlantic security during the Cold War and is now transforming itself to address new security challenges. There is indeed a multitude of emerging threats and challenges that the Alliance must play a role in addressing, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and piracy and the challenge NATO faces in the stabilization mission in Afghanistan. Indeed, NATO's performance in Afghanistan will serve as a test with regard to the Alliance's effectiveness and relevance in addressing the security challenges of the 21st century.

As the measure notes, the NATO School itself is playing an important role in ensuring that the NATO mission in Afghanistan is a complete success.

Again, I would like to express my support of this resolution, and I urge all my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support it as well.

I reserve the balance of my time.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I object to the vote on the ground that a quorum is not present and make the point of order that a quorum is not present.