S.Amdt. 5536

SA 5536. Mr. SESSIONS (for himself, Mr. Nelson of Nebraska, Mr. Lieberman, Mr. Kyl, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Graham, Mr. Vitter, Mr. Brownback, and Mr. Chambliss) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 3001, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2009 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

On page 311, between lines 13 and 14, insert the following:

SEC. 1083. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON SUPPORT OF CZECH REPUBLIC AND POLAND FOR NATO MISSILE DEFENSE EFFORTS.

(a) Findings.--The Senate makes the following findings:

(1) The Heads of State and Government of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) agreed at the Bucharest Summit on April 3, 2008, that “[b]allistic missile proliferation poses an increasing threat to Allies' forces, territory and populations”.

(2) As part of a broad response to counter the ballistic missile threat, the Heads of State and Government of NATO “recognise the substantial contribution to the protection of Allies from long-range ballistic missiles to be provided by the planned deployment of European-based United States missile defence assets”.

(3) On July 8, 2008, the United States Government and the Government of the Czech Republic signed an agreement on the stationing of a United States radar facility in the Czech Republic to track ballistic missiles.

(4) On August 20, 2008, the United States Government and the Government of Poland signed an agreement on the stationing of 10 ground-based missile defense interceptors to defend NATO territory and populations from Iranian ballistic missiles.

(5) The United States radar facility in the Czech Republic and the United States ground-based ballistic missile defense interceptor facility in Poland will become part of a future NATO-wide missile defense architecture.

(6) The Government of Iran continues to defy international calls to cease its nuclear weapons program and continues to develop and test longer-range ballistic missiles and space launch vehicles.

(b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate that--

(1) the decision by the Governments of Poland and the Czech Republic to station elements of a missile defense system on their territory is a clear affirmation of the commitment of those governments to support the defense of Europe and the United States against the threat of certain long-range ballistic missiles;

(2) the Senate--

(A) recognizes the importance of these decisions taken by the Governments of Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as the decision by NATO to support missile defense at the Bucharest Summit in April 2008; and

(B) notes the care and seriousness with which these governments have undertaken their evaluation and consideration of these issues;

(3) these decisions will deepen the strategic relationship between these governments and make a substantial contribution to the collective capability of NATO to counter existing and future ballistic missile threats;

(4) these decisions by the Governments of Poland and the Czech Republic--

(A) are a clear indication of their commitment to uphold their independence and sovereignty; and

(B) demonstrate their determination to play a positive role in the defense of freedom; and

(5) in light of all these circumstances, the United States Government should fully fund and proceed with the deployment of a missile defense system in Europe as soon as technically feasible, which program will provide additional protection for the United States and Europe against certain long-range ballistic missile threats.