WASHINGTON The Senate overwhelmingly voted to add Finland and Sweden into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Tuesday, a historic move aimed at countering Russias aggression in Europe.

Only one senator, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), opposed the ratification. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), meanwhile, voted present.

Hawley, a potential 2024 presidential contender, argued that Finland and Sweden would have trouble spending on their own defense, putting the onus on the U.S. to get even more involved in the region. He said the U.S. should focus instead on countering China, and that it wouldnt be able to do both.

Our foreign policy should be about protecting the United States, our freedoms, our people [and] our way of life, Hawley said in a floor speech. Expanding NATO, I believe, would not do that.

NATO was founded after World War II to create a pact of mutual defense among member nations in the event of Soviet aggression. NATO member countries are treaty-bound to defend any member in the event of an armed attack.

Hawley, who led the effort to overturn the 2020 electoral results in Congress that gave rise to the Jan. 6 insurrection, called for adopting a nationalist foreign policy. He later went on Tucker Carlsons Fox News show to make his case. Carlson was an early critic of U.S. efforts to counter Russia, amplifying the Kremlins talking points as it launched its brutal invasion of Ukraine.