Italians have blessed our country with great art and music. Whoonor the italian voyager led a voyage of discovery to the new world, a gentleman known as christopher columbus. To me, it will always be called columbus day. Some people dont like that, i do. Today, the United States and italy draw strength from our cherished heritage as we Work Together to safeguard our people and promote prosperity as nato allies. Our countries cooperate closely on a wide range of critical defense issues, including the protection of our nations against radical islamic terrorism. The problem is, italy is only paying 1. 1 instead of the mandated 2 , which by and of itself is a low number. Only eight of the 28 nato ,ountries are paying the 2 meaning 20 of the countries are delinquent in the payment to nato. Years. Ve been for many germany is 1. 3 at most, spain is that less than 1 , turkey, believe it or not, is almost current and paid up. I want to thank the secretarygeneral because he is going around sayin