S.Amdt. 4263

SA 4263. Mr. GARDNER submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by him to the bill S. 2943, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2017 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 E of title XVI, add the following:

SEC. 1667. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT
OF NORTH KOREA AND THE DEPLOYMENT OF TERMINAL
HIGH ALTITUDE AREA DEFENSE IN SOUTH KOREA.

It is the sense of Congress--
(1) that the short-range, medium-range, and long-range
ballistic missile programs of the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea (DPRK) represent an imminent and growing
threat to the Republic of Korea (ROK), Japan, and the United
States homeland;
(2) that, according to open sources, the Democratic
People's Republic of Korea currently fields an estimated 700
short-range ballistic missiles, 200 Nodong medium-range
ballistic missiles, and 100 Musudan intermediate-range
ballistic missiles;
(3) that, in March 2016, the United States and Republic of
Korea officially began formal consultations regarding the
deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD)
missile defense system to the Republic of Korea;
(4) that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile
defense system would effectively complement and significantly
strengthen the existing missile defense capabilities of the
United States on the Korean Peninsula;
(5) that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense missile
defense system is a limited defensive system that does not
represent a threat to any of the neighbors of the Republic of
Korea;
(6) to welcome deployment consultation talks between United
States and the Republic of Korea on the Terminal High
Altitude Area Defense missile defense system and to consider
the deployment of that system as a sovereign choice of the
Republic of Korean Government and a bilateral decision of the
alliance between the United States and the Republic of Korea
to protect the citizens of the Republic of Korea against the
growing ballistic missile threat from the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea and provide further protection to alliance
forces serving on the Korean Peninsula; and
(7) to welcome joint missile defenses exercises between the
United States, the Republic of Korea, and Japan against the
ballistic missile threat from the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea and encourage further trilateral defense
cooperation between the United States, the Republic of Korea,
and Japan.
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