S.Amdt. 1561

SA 1561. Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. Wicker) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by her to the bill S. 1260, to establish a new Directorate for Technology and Innovation in the National Science Foundation, to establish a regional technology hub program, to require a strategy and report on economic security, science, research, innovation, manufacturing, and job creation, to establish a critical supply chain resiliency program, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

In section 3224(10), strike subparagraphs (C) through (F) and insert the following:

(C) building and maintaining a United States naval fleet of not fewer than 355 battle force ships--

(i) to rival the People's Liberation Army Navy's larger fleet; and

(ii) to ensure the United States Navy can continue to maintain freedom of navigation and defend United States security and economic interests in the Indo-Pacific region;

(D) adopting a more dispersed force posture throughout the region, particularly the Western Pacific, and pursuing maximum access for United States mobile and relocatable launchers for long-range cruise, ballistic, and hypersonic weapons throughout the Indo-Pacific region;

(E) fielding long-range, precision-strike networks to United States and allied forces, including ground-launched cruise missiles, undersea and naval capabilities, and integrated air and missile defense in the First Island Chain and the Second Island Chain, in order to deter and prevent PRC coercion and aggression, and to maximize the United States ability to operate;

(F) strengthening extended deterrence to ensure that escalation against key United States interests would be costly, risky, and self-defeating; and

(G) collaborating with allies and partners to accelerate their roles in more equitably sharing the burdens of mutual defense, including through the acquisition and fielding of advanced capabilities and training that will better enable them to repel PRC aggression or coercion; and