S.Amdt. 2906

SA 2906. Mr. SCHATZ submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 2296, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2026 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. 12__. REPORT ON BENEFITS OF FACT-BASED JOURNALISM IN
INDO-PACIFIC REGION.

(a) In General.--Not later than 180 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense, in
consultation with the Secretary of State, shall submit to the
appropriate committees of Congress a report outlining the
benefits, to United States defense and security objectives in
the Indo-Pacific region, of editorially independent, fact-
based journalism in the Indo-Pacific region, including
throughout the Pacific Islands.
(b) Elements.--The report required by subsection (a) shall
include an assessment of the following:
(1) The benefits to United States defense and security
interests of an information environment in the Indo-Pacific
region, including the Pacific Islands, that includes fact-
based reporting on the malign activities of competitors and
adversaries in the region.
(2) The risks to Department of Defense operations and
activities of insufficient editorially independent news media
in the Indo-Pacific region.
(c) Form.--The report required by subsection (a) shall be
submitted in unclassified form but may include a classified
annex.
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