Trump will be BLOCKED from pulling U.S. out of NATO in second term after Congress passes bill to stop any future president leaving key military alliance without Senate approval

A provision tucked in the National Defense Authorization Act would bar former President Donald Trump from unilaterally pulling the U.S. out of NATO, should he be reelected next fall. 

A bipartisan team of Republican Sen. Marco Rubio and Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine inserted the provision in the $886 billion defense bill, which passed the House of Representatives on Thursday. 

The Senate passed its version Wednesday evening and President Joe Biden is expected to sign the bill into law. 

Rubio and Kaine's provision requires the president to seek the advice and consent of the Senate before suspending, terminating or withdrawing the U.S. from NATO - a key military alliance that's supposed to deter Russian aggression. 

If a president attempts to leave NATO without Senate approval, or another act of Congress, the provision prohibits any funding going toward such a move. 

It also authorizes the Congressional Legal Counsel to sue the White House over the action. 

In October, Rolling Stone reported that Trump, the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination, has continued to float pulling the U.S. out of NATO - something that he had mulled while in office, but was talked out of by senior advisers. 

Trump has complained about Article 5, the collective-defense clause, which would pull the U.S. into a military conflict if any NATO member states are attacked. 

One former official recalled to Rolling Stone that Trump argued during an Oval Office meeting in mid-2018 that most Americans hadn't even heard of some of the smaller countries.

'In a second Trump term, we'd almost certainly withdraw from NATO,' Trump's former National Security Advisor John Bolton predicted in an interview with The Hill in August. 

Bolton has turned Trump critic and suggested that Trump never understood NATO's defense spending requirements, which the Republican ex-president often complained about. 

NATO requires members to put at least two percent of their gross domestic product toward defense spending, but in Trump's eyes the U.S. is owed money, which is not the case. 

'The good old USA "suckers" are paying a VAST majority of the NATO bill, & outside money, going to Ukraine. VERY UNFAIR!' Trump posted to his Truth Social network in January. 

And during his August CNN town hall, Trump said he told NATO members 'I will not protect you from Russia' if 'delinquent' on defense spending. 

President Joe Biden's administration, on the other hand, has bolstered NATO and has credited the alliance with nowt allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine to spill over other countries' borders. 

'NATO has held strong in response to Putin's war in Ukraine and rising challenges around the world,' echoed Kaine in a statement Thursday. 'The Senate's vote today to pass my bipartisan bill to prevent any U.S. President from unilaterally withdrawing from NATO reaffirms U.S. support for this crucial alliance that is foundational for our national security.'

'It also sends a strong message to authoritarians around the world that the free world remains united,' Kaine said.  

Rubio added that the 'Senate should maintain oversight on whether or not our nation withdraws from NATO.' 

'We must ensure we are protecting our national interests and protecting the security of our democratic allies,' the Florida Republican added.