After U.S. Republican Senator Richard Lugar introduced the NATO Enlargement Bill, Republican Congressman Mike Turner followed suit by introducing a companion bill in the House, designed to encourage further expansion of the Alliance.

The bill, NATO Enhancement Act of 2012, calls on President Obama to “lead NATO efforts” at the Chicago Summit in May to provide “a clear roadmap for the granting of a NATO Membership Action Plan (or other equivalent plan) to Georgia”, as well as to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“I call on the Administration and my colleagues in Congress to recognize that countries such as Bosnia, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Georgia should be afforded NATO membership,” Turner said.

The bill, if approved, will make Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro eligible to receive U.S. assistance for NATO accession under the 1994 NATO Participation Act and will reauthorize assistance under the same act for Georgia and Macedonia, plus will add other measures as well, including “sales of defense articles and services necessary to maintain sufficient territorial self-defense capabilities in accordance with every nation’s right to self-defense.”