S.Amdt. 2247

SA 2247. Mr. INHOFE 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. 1287. SENSE OF SENATE ON DEFENSE SPENDING AND GLOBAL
SECURITY CHALLENGES.

It is the sense of the Senate that--
(1) as recommended by the bipartisan National Defense
Strategy Commission report issued in November 2018,
``Congress should increase the size of the base defense
budget significantly through the Future Years Defense Program
and perhaps beyond.'';

[[Page S3703]]

(2) as recommended by former Secretary of Defense Jim
Mattis and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
General Joseph Dunford, as well as the bipartisan National
Defense Strategy Commission report issued in November 2018,
real growth of at least three to five percent annual growth
in the budget for the Department of Defense is required to
achieve the objectives of the National Defense Strategy;
(3) the need for three to five percent real growth in the
budget for the Department preceded the COVID-19 pandemic,
which has already imposed significant costs on the
Department, and is likely to do so in the future given the
effects on the defense industrial base and the Department's
role in supporting the whole-of-government response to COVID-
19;
(4) increasingly aggressive behavior by the People's
Republic of China during the COVID-19 pandemic, including
coercive and violent actions against allies and partners of
the United States, is indicative of intensifying strategic
competition requiring robust and sustained investment in the
United States Armed Forces; and
(5) Congress should support sufficient, timely, and
sustained defense investment in order to--
(A) achieve the objectives of the National Defense
Strategy; and
(B) confront a complex array of global security challenges,
including those which have intensified in the aftermath of
the COVID-19 pandemic.
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