S.Amdt. 659

SA 659. Mr. RUBIO submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 1790, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2020 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 part II of subtitle Aof title XVI, add the
following:

SEC. 1617. ACQUISITION STRATEGY FOR CATEGORY C SPACE LAUNCH
MISSIONS.

(a) In General.--Not later than March 1, 2020, the
Secretary of the Air Force shall submit to the congressional
defense committees a plan for the acquisition of Category C
space launch services independently of the acquisition of
Category A and B missions. Category C missions shall be
filled by a mix of--
(1) commercially available space launch vehicles; and
(2) previously certified space launch vehicles.
(b) Funding Authorized.--Of the funds authorized to be
appropriated in fiscal year 2020 for National Security Space
Launch, the Air Force may transfer up to $100,000,000 to
support the acquisition strategy required by subsection (a).
The Air Force shall, in the budget materials submitted to the
President by the Secretary of Defense in connection with the
submission to Congress of budget materials pursuant to
section 1105 of title 31, United States Code, use a separate,
dedicated line item for the procurement of Category C
missions.
(c) Competition.--The Air Force shall use full and open
competition to the maximum extent practicable in the
acquisition of Category C space launch services.
(d) Report Required.--
(1) In general.--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 cost of constructing infrastructure in multiple
locations to meet Category C mission requirements in addition
to existing obstacles which prevent Category C missions from
being conducted out of a single location.
(2) Elements.--The report required under paragraph (1)
shall include--
(A) current and previous funding by the Department of
Defense to establish launch sites to meet Category C
requirements; and
(B) overflight concerns to meet Category C launches
including a strategy to mitigate these concerns.
______