To improve the amendment.

SA 4670. Mr. NELSON (for himself and Mr. Gardner) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 4607 submitted by Mr.
McCain 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:

On page 1, between lines 3 and 4, insert the following:

SEC. 829B. COMPETITIVE PROCUREMENT AND PHASE OUT OF ROCKET
ENGINES FROM THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION IN THE
EVOLVED EXPENDABLE LAUNCH VEHICLE PROGRAM FOR
SPACE LAUNCH OF NATIONAL SECURITY SATELLITES.

(a) Ineffectiveness of Superseded Requirements.--Sections
1036 and 1037 shall have no force or effect, and the
amendments proposed to be made by section 1037 shall not be
made.
(b) In General.--Any competition for a contract for the
provision of launch services for the evolved expendable
launch vehicle program shall be open for award to all
certified providers of evolved expendable launch vehicle-
class systems.
(c) Award of Contracts.--In awarding a contract under
subsection (b), the Secretary of Defense--
(1) subject to paragraph (2) and subsection (d), and
notwithstanding any other provision of law, may, during the
period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act and
ending on December 31, 2022, award the contract to a provider
of launch services that intends to use any certified launch
vehicle in its inventory without regard to the country of
origin of the rocket engine that will be used on that launch
vehicle; and
(2) may only award contracts utilizing an engine designed
or manufactured in the Russian Federation for phase 1(a) and
phase 2 evolved expendable launch vehicle procurements.
(d) Limitation.--The total number of rocket engines
designed or manufactured in the Russian Federation and used
on launch vehicles for the evolved expendable launch vehicle
program shall not exceed 18.
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