S.Amdt. 1649

SA 1649. Mr. SCHATZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 1463 proposed by Mr. McCain to the bill H.R. 1735, to
authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2016 for military activities
of the Department of Defense and for military construction, to
prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle E of title XII, add the following:

SEC. 1264. SENSE OF SENATE ON THE REBALANCE TO THE ASIA-
PACIFIC REGION.

It is the sense of the Senate that--

[[Page S3795]]

(1) the rebalance to the Asia-Pacific region is right for
the United States, and the United States Army is essential to
this effort given the importance of land armies in the
region;
(2) the Asia-Pacific region is home to 7 of the 10 largest
armies in the world, and 21 of the 27 chiefs of defense in
the region are army officers;
(3) the dynamic security environment in the Asia-Pacific
region demands capabilities the Army has to offer, from
supporting humanitarian operations to conducting military
exercises with most important regional partners and allies of
the United States;
(4) the spending limits in the Budget Control Act of 2011
impose hard choices on the Department of Defense that could
force the Army to make strategically unwise cuts to its end
strength;
(5) it is the responsibility of Congress to remove defense
and non-defense spending limits to give Federal agencies the
certainty they need to make sound budgetary decisions; and
(6) despite fiscal pressure, the Army should strengthen its
posture in the Asia-Pacific region and make future force
structure decisions in line with the commitment of the United
States to rebalance to the region.
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