S.Amdt. 1884

SA 1884. Mr. ROMNEY (for himself, Mr. King, and Mrs. Shaheen)
submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S.
4049, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2021 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 G of title XII, add the following:

SEC. 12__. COMPARATIVE STUDIES ON DEFENSE BUDGET TRANSPARENCY
OF THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA, THE RUSSIAN
FEDERATION, AND THE UNITED STATES.

(a) Studies Required.--
(1) Department of defense study.--Not later than 270 days
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of
Defense, acting through the Director of the Defense
Intelligence Agency, in consultation with the Under Secretary
of Defense (Comptroller), the Director of the Office of Cost
Assessment and Program Evaluation, the Director of the Office
of Net Assessment, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for
Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, and the Assistant Secretary of
Defense for International Security Affairs, shall complete a
comparative study on the defense budgets of the People's
Republic of China, the Russian Federation, and the United
States.
(2) Independent study.--
(A) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall
offer to enter into an agreement with not more than two
entities independent of the Department to conduct a
comparative study on the defense budgets of the People's
Republic of China, the Russian Federation, and the United
States, to be completed not later than 270 days after the
date of the enactment of this Act.
(B) Federally funded research and development center.--Not
fewer than one entity described in subparagraph (A) shall be
a federally funded research and development center.
(b) Goal.--The goal of the studies required by subsection
(a) shall be to develop a methodologically sound set of
assumptions to underpin a comparison of the defense spending
of the People's Republic of China, the Russian Federation,
and the United States.
(c) Elements.--Each study required by subsection (a) shall
do the following:
(1) Develop consistent functional categories for spending,
including--
(A) defense-related research and development;
(B) weapons procurement;
(C) operations and maintenance; and
(D) pay and benefits.
(2) Consider the effects of purchasing power parity and
market exchange rates, particularly on nontraded goods.
(3) Consider differences in the relative prices of goods
and labor within each subject country.
(4) Compare the costs of labor and benefits for the defense
workforce of each subject country.
(5) Account for discrepancies in the manner in which each
subject country accounts for certain functional types of
defense-related spending.
(6) Explicitly estimate the magnitude of omitted spending
from official defense budget information.
(7) Evaluate the adequacy of the United Nations database on
military expenditures.
(8) Exclude spending related to veterans' benefits.
(d) Report.--Not later than 30 days after the date on which
the studies required by subsection (a) are completed, the
Secretary of Defense shall submit to the Committees on Armed
Services of the Senate and the House of Representatives a
report on the results of each study, together with the views
of the Secretary on each study.
(e) Form.--The report required by subsection (d) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified
annex.
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