S.Amdt. 2182

SA 2182. Mrs. SHAHEEN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by her 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 D of title XII, add the following:

SEC. 1242. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES
PRESENCE IN GERMANY.

It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) United States troop presence in Germany has a
remarkable, longstanding post-World War II and post-Cold War
legacy and is essential to defending United States national
security interests in Europe and beyond;
(2) Germany supports United States national security
objectives by paying to host the largest number of members of
the United States Armed Forces in Europe and five of the
seven United States Army garrisons in Europe;
(3) to maintain the United States presence, Germany
contributes approximately $1,000,000,000 of annual costs,
including through the rent-free provision of bases and
facilities, tax exemptions, reduced-cost services, provision
of security, and other benefits;
(4) The support described in paragraph (3) is underwritten
by a German public that is traditionally very supportive of
the United States military presence in Germany;
(5) United States Armed Forces facilities in Germany
include--
(A) Ramstein Air Base, a critical hub for operations in the
Middle East and Africa and headquarters to the United States
Air Force in Europe and Africa;
(B) the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, which has saved
the lives of countless members of the Armed Forces wounded in
Iraq and Afghanistan;
(C) the Stuttgart headquarters of both the United States
European Command and the United States Africa Command;
(D) the Wiesbaden headquarters of United States Army
Europe;
(E) the Kaiserslautern area, which is home to the 21st
Theater Support Command, responsible for all United States
Army logistics in Europe;
(F) the Spangdahlem F-16 fighter base; and
(G) the Grafenwoehr Training Area, the largest and most
sophisticated training facility of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization in Europe;
(6) nearly all United States Armed Forces flights to Iraq
and Afghanistan pass through Ramstein in southwestern
Germany, the largest United States airbase outside the United
States;
(7) the United States military hospital in Landstuhl treats
soldiers wounded in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan and other
United States citizens, including hostages returning to the
United States after their captivity, and to assist additional
United States citizens, the United States is constructing a
new $1,000,000,000 military hospital in Weilerbach, Germany,
which will be the largest military hospital outside the
United States;
(8) the North Atlantic Treaty Organization continues to
play a critical role in the national security of the United
States;
(9) the approximately 35,000 members of the United States
Armed Forces stationed in Germany, and the ability to
increase that level to over 50,000 members of the United
States Armed Forces, is essential to supporting North
Atlantic Treaty Organization operations and its collective
deterrence against threats;
(10) United States troop levels in Germany have already
decreased significantly since the end of the Cold War, when
there were as many as 200,000 members of the United States
Armed Forces in Germany;
(11) since 1995, the withdrawal of the bulk of forward-
deployed United States troops in the European theater and the
closure of bases left the United States and the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization unprepared for the Russian
Federation's revanchist maneuvers in Ukraine, Georgia, and
the Middle East;
(12) in response to the Russian Federation's illegal
annexation of Crimea and instigation of a proxy war in
Eastern Ukraine, increased military activities in the High
North region of Europe, particularly through reportedly
adding nuclear-capable missiles to Kaliningrad, and enhanced
naval presence in the Baltic Sea, the Arctic Ocean, and the
North Sea, the United States and North Atlantic Treaty
Organization allies have bolstered their rotational military
presence throughout Europe;
(13) the United States troop presence in Germany is
critical to--
(A) maintaining such rotational military presence;
(B) United States participation in additional exercises and
trainings with allies and partners;
(C) the enhanced pre-positioning of United States equipment
in European countries on the front lines of the Russia
Federation's aggression; and
(D) intensified efforts to build partner capacity for newer
North Atlantic Treaty Organization members and other non-
North Atlantic Treaty Organization countries;
(14) the United States presence in Germany--
(A) supports United States European Command operations;
(B) provides significant support to the United States
Central Command;
(C) serves as the headquarters for the United States Africa
Command; and
(D) affords the United States an important transit and
jumping-off point for operations worldwide;
(15) strategic experts, transatlantic leaders, and current
and former military personnel have warned that any step to
withdraw the already limited United States troop presence in
Germany, let alone reduce the United States presence by 28
percent, can only benefit the Russian Federation and weaken
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and United States
security as a whole; and
(16) reducing the United States troop presence in Germany
during a time of growing threats in Europe and beyond is a
dangerous strategic misstep that will undermine United States
national security interests and weaken the North Atlantic
Treaty Organization and the transatlantic alliance.
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