The Senate on Wednesday approved a resolution ratifying Sweden and Finland’s membership in NATO, seeking to expand the reach of the treaty organization providing mutual defense to Western-allied countries.

Though the resolution needed a 67 vote supermajority for passage, 95 senators voted in favor, an overwhelming bipartisan majority of the Senate supported its passage. Only one senator — Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo. — voted against the resolution.

“It sends a warning shot to tyrants around the world who believe free democracies are just up for grabs,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said in the Senate debate ahead of the vote.

“Russia’s unprovoked invasion has changed the way we think about world security,” she added.

Finland and Sweden’s ascent to membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a change from the countries’ previous longstanding neutral stance on the alliance. But it’s one the countries deemed necessary, following Russia’s aggressive invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.

"This isn't us doing them a favor," Maine Sen. Angus King said in an interview with Spectrum News. "They're doing us a favor by joining the alliance and Turkey has removed their objections. I think this is an important step, and it also puts Russia on notice that aggression doesn't pay.”

“The war is not just a threat against Ukraine. Russia’s war has created a far more dangerous reality for Europe, including Sweden,” Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said in June, shortly before NATO leaders invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance. “This existential threat to the European security order will be there for a long time to come. And we must act accordingly.”

During that June summit in Madrid, an agreement was struck between Finland, Sweden and Turkey, the country previously considered the greatest opponent to this expansion of NATO countries. All 30 present NATO member countries must approve of the expansion. Thus far, more than half of NATO member nations have ratified their membership.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who visited Kyiv earlier this year, urged unanimous approval. Speaking to the Senate, McConnell cited Finland’s and Sweden’s well-funded, modernizing militaries and their experience working with U.S. forces and weapons systems, calling it a “slam-dunk for national security” of the United States.

“Their accession will make NATO stronger and America more secure. If any senator is looking for a defensible excuse to vote no, I wish them good luck,” McConnell said.

Hawley, the lone Senate vote against ratification, called the NATO vote a distraction from what he called the Untied States’ chief rival — China, not Russia.

“We can do more in Europe ... devote more resources, more firepower ... or do what we need to do to deter Asia and China. We cannot do both,” Hawley said, calling his a “classic nationalist approach” to foreign policy. Hawley is a steadfast ally of former President Donald Trump, who often expressed similar views.

In an interview with Spectrum News on Wednesday ahead of the vote, Hawley doubled down on his point and expanded on why he would oppose the measure.

"My view is that we can either focus on China, who was our number one foreign adversary, our number one foreign threat, or we can send more troops and more resources and make more commitments in Europe, but I don't think we can do both," Hawley told Spectrum News' Angi Gonzalez. "And my view is we should be focusing on China, so I'm gonna vote no on expanding NATO, because that would mean more U.S. troops in Europe for the long haul."

"It would be for us spending in Europe for the long haul, it would be more resources, more firepower in Europe, when I think we desperately need those things in Asia to counter China," he continued, adding: "For those reasons, I'll be voting no on NATO expansion.

But Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey disagrees with his Republican colleague, telling Spectrum News that the U.S. can focus on both threats.

"Finland and Sweden feel threatened," he said. "They want to join NATO, we should let them join NATO."

"We should give them the protection of that security umbrella that other countries in Western Europe have enjoyed since the end of World War II," he added. "And simultaneously, we have to focus on China and the threat that it poses as well.”

Two amendments to the resolution were presented Wednesday. One, by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., moved that Article 5 of the NATO treaty, which provides for collective defense from all NATO members should one ally be attacked, would not supersede Congress’s constitutional requirement to declare war; it was soundly defeated, 87 votes to 10.

A second amendment, proposed by Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Ak., underlined American support for all NATO members to spend a minimum of their gross domestic product on defense by 2024. That amendment passed unanimously.