S.Amdt. 1949

SA 1949. Mr. WHITEHOUSE 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, 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:

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

SEC. 1209. REPORT ON FEASIBILITY AND ADVISABILITY OF
ESTABLISHING PERMANENT FOREIGN DISASTER
ASSISTANCE FORCE WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF
DEFENSE.

(a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in
consultation with the Secretaries of the military
departments, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and
the commander of each combatant command, shall submit to the
congressional defense committees a report on the feasibility
and advisability of establishing a permanent command
structure along with permanently assigned forces (from either
the active duty or reserve components) to respond to requests
for foreign disaster assistance.
(b) Elements.--The report required under subsection (a)
should include a description of--
(1) the funding mechanism and amount required to stand up
and sustain a foreign assistance disaster force;
(2) the authorities and policies related to the role of the
Department of Defense in foreign disaster assistance;
(3) the organizational and functional requirements of
establishing a foreign disaster assistance force; and
(4) the requisite skills, experience, and training needed
to sustain an effective disaster assistance response force
that would be tasked with--
(A) planning and executing disaster response missions;
(B) coordinating with the Department of State, the United
States Agency for International Development, and
international and nongovernmental partners; and
(C) training partner countries in preparedness and
response.
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