S.Amdt. 1693

SA 1693. Mr. INHOFE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 1390, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2010 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 429, between lines 8 and 9, insert the following:

SEC. 1073. REPORT ON AUTOMATED SMALL ARMS AMMUNITION SORTING.

(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:

(1) From 2001 to 2009, small arms ammunition acquisition by the Federal Government increased to over 2,000,000,000 rounds, with 80 percent of that ammunition being used for training or noncombat purposes.

(2) An automatic ammunition sorting and inspecting capability currently only exists at Camp Arifjan, Kuwait, and Fort Irwin, California.

(3) After 8 years of combat and precombat training since October 2001, large stockpiles of loose small arms ammunition awaiting sorting have collected.

(4) It is in the best financial and logistical interest to expedite and increase the recapitalization of unused small arms ammunition within the Department of Defense.

(b) Report Required.--

(1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a report on small arms ammunition.

(2) Content.--The report required under paragraph (1) shall include the following:

(A) The plan of the Department of Defense to recoup and recapitalize large quantities of loose small arms ammunition (9mm, .45 caliber, 5.56mm, 7.62mm, and .50 caliber).

(B) An assessment of the cost savings of an increased industrial capacity to automatically sort and inspect large quantities of loose and unused small arms ammunition in lieu of manual inspection and sorting methods.

(C) The intent of the Department of Defense to invest in automatic ammunition sorting infrastructure that reduces the number of personnel required to manually sort ammunition and expedites ammunition usage by members of the Armed Forces for combat and training.

(D) The impact of military installations and departments having the ability to automatically and mechanically sort spent brass from live ammunition and visually inspect and identify ammunition for quality control and authenticity.