The resolution was moved in early November by Congressman Elton Gallegly of California, who chairs the Sub-committee on Europe of the Committee on International Relations. The resolution was co-sponsored by Congressmen George Radanovich and Peter Visclosky, who co-chair the Congressional Croatian Caucus.
The document will now be sent to the House of Representatives, which is expected to discuss it next week.
The draft resolution praises Croatia for progress in meeting the political, economic and military criteria for NATO membership and recommends that the country be invited to join NATO as a full member as soon as possible.
Croatia is described in the resolution as a reliable partner to the United States and a country contributing to the stabilisation of Southeastern Europe.
Since it gained independence, Croatia has made significant progress in the strengthening of democratic institutions and respect for human rights and the rule of law, it has contributed to the fight against global terrorism and met the criteria from NATO's Membership Action Plan, as well as constructively participated in the US-Adriatic Charter, reads the resolution.
Croatia is also commended for having significantly improved its cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague and encouraged to take steps to locate the remaining fugitive indictee, General Ante Gotovina, and transfer him to The Hague.
The resolution clearly differs from the position of the State Department, which has said that Croatia's membership of NATO should be made conditional on Gotovina's arrest and extradition.
The US Under-secretary for Political Affairs, Nicholas Burns, said last month that Croatia would not become a member of NATO until Gotovina was arrested and transferred to The Hague.
The draft resolution reads that the European Union has launched accession talks with Croatia because the country has met the criteria for EU candidacy, including full cooperation with the UN tribunal, and that Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader has said that his government is committed to full cooperation with the tribunal and to taking measures aimed at locating and extraditing Gotovina.