S.Amdt. 2353

SA 2353. Mr. CRUZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 2301 proposed by Mr. Inhofe 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:

Amend section 144 to read as follows:

SEC. 144. MINIMUM AIR FORCE BOMBER AIRCRAFT LEVEL.

(a) Minimum.--The Secretary of Defense shall submit to the
congressional defense committees recommendations for a
minimum number of bomber aircraft, including penetrating
bombers in addition to B-52H aircraft, to enable the Air
Force to carry out its long-range penetrating strike
capability.
(b) Reports on B-1 Fleet Sustainment.--
(1) Initial report.--Not later than 30 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Air Force
shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report
on the current state of readiness and continued sustainment
of the B-1 fleet and any gaps or necessary steps to ensure
that the mission capable rate of the B-1 fleet is not less
than 70 percent and the structural life of such fleet is
sufficient to 2040. The report shall include a cost benefit
analysis for bombers versus arsenal planes.
(2) Quarterly briefing.--If the mission capable rate and
structural life levels specified in paragraph (1) have not
been met, not later than 60 days after the report is
submitted under such paragraph, and not less frequently than
quarterly thereafter until such levels have been met, the
Secretary of the Air Force shall brief the congressional
defense committees on, with respect to the B-1 fleet, the
following:
(A) A description of any structural issues or technical
deficiencies.
(B) A plan for continued structural deficiency data
analysis and training.
(C) A description of projected repair timelines to address
issues identified under subparagraph (A).
(D) A description of future mitigation strategies,
including an analysis of the support requirement for each
aircraft.
(E) An aircrew maintainer training plan, including a plan
to ensure that the training pipeline remains steady for any
degradation period.
(F) An identification of any deficiencies in equipment or
funds required to address issues identified under
subparagraph (A).
(G) A recovery timeline to resolve issues identified under
subparagraph (A).
(c) Limitation.--None of the funds authorized to be
appropriated by this Act or any other Act for the Department
of Defense may be obligated or expended in support of the Air
Force Arsenal Plane program, and the Department may not
otherwise implement any such activity, until the report
required under subsection (b)(1) is submitted.
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