S.Amdt. 3303

SA 3303. Mr. RUBIO (for himself and Mr. Nelson of Florida) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 3175 submitted by Mr. Rubio and intended to be proposed to the bill S. 3254, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2013 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:

Amendment No. 3303

At the appropriate place insert the following:

Sense of Congress:

(1) It is the sense of the Congress that the Secretary of the Navy, in supporting the operational requirements of the combatant commands, shall maintain the operational capability and perform the necessary maintenance of each cruiser and dock landing ship belonging to the Navy.

(2) For retirements of ships owned by the U.S. Navy prior to their projected end of service life, the Chief of Naval Operations must explain to the Congressional defense committees how the retention of each ship would degrade the overall readiness of the fleet and endanger U.S. national security and the objectives of the combatant commanders.

(3) Further, it is the sense of the Congress that revitalizing the Navy's 30-year shipbuilding plan should be a national priority, and a commensurate amount of increased funding should be provided to the Navy in the Future Years Defense Program to help close the gap between requirements and the current size of the fleet.