S.Amdt. 2060

1. Adds SEC. 1025. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON A BALANCED FUTURE NAVAL FORCE at the end of subtitle C of title X

   Adds a section

   In S. 1197 · Placed on Calendar Senate

   "7306. Vessels stricken from Naval Vessel Register; captured vessels: conveyance by donation.".

   Inserted: SEC. 1025. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON A BALANCED FUTURE NAVAL FORCE.

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

   Inserted: (1) The battle force of the Navy must be sufficiently sized and balanced in capability to meet current and anticipated future national security objectives.

   Inserted: (2) A robust and balanced naval force is required for the Department of Defense to fully execute the National Security Strategy of the President.

   Inserted: (3) To develop and sustain required capabilities the Navy must balance investment and maintenance costs across various vessel types, including--

   Inserted: (A) aircraft carriers;

   Inserted: (B) surface combatants;

   Inserted: (C) submarines;

   Inserted: (D) amphibious assault ships; and

   Inserted: (E) other auxiliary vessels, including support vessels operated by the Military Sealift Command.

   Inserted: (4) The Navy possesses only 28 amphibious assault ships, with an average of only 22 amphibious assault ships available for surge deployment despite a Marine Corps requirement for 38 amphibious assault ships.

   Inserted: (5) The inadequate level of investment in Navy shipbuilding over the last 20 years has resulted in the following:

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   Inserted: (A) A fragile shipbuilding industrial base in the United States, both in the construction yards and secondary suppliers of materiel and equipment.

   Inserted: (B) Increased costs per vessel stemming from low production volume.

   Inserted: (6) The Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2013 (division C of Public Law 113-6) provides $263,000,000 towards advance procurement of materiel and equipment required to continue the San Antonio LPD-17 amphibious transport dock class of vessels to a total of 12 vessels, a key first step in rebalancing the amphibious assault ship force structure of the Navy.

   Inserted: (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--

   Inserted: (1) the Department of Defense and the Department of the Navy must prioritize funding towards increased shipbuilding rates to enable the Navy to meet the full-range of requests from the combatant commands;

   Inserted: (2) the budget requests for the Navy for future fiscal years, and future Long Range Plans for the Construction of Naval Vessels, under section 231 of title 10, United States Code, must realistically anticipate and reflect the true investment necessary to meet stated Navy force structure goals;

   Inserted: (3) without modification to the shipbuilding plan in the Long Range Plan for the Construction of Naval Vessels, the industrial base that enables construction of large, combat-survivable amphibious assault ships is at significant risk; and

   Inserted: (4) the Department of Defense and Congress should act expeditiously to restore the force structure and capability balance of the fleet of Navy vessels as quickly as possible.

   Original wording

   At the end of subtitle C of title X, add the following:

Read automatically from the Congressional Record. Check the original before relying on it.

As printed