S.Amdt. 3293

SA 3293. Mr. LEE 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 E of title V, add the following:

SEC. 550. MILITARY PERSONNEL: RECRUITING; MERIT-BASED
DETERMINATIONS.

(a) Recruiting.--Not later than September 30, 2025, the
Secretary of Defense shall prescribe regulations that any
effort to recruit an individual to serve in a covered Armed
Force, or contracted entity, may not take into account the
race or gender of such individual.
(b) Merit-based Determinations.--Not later than September
30, 2025, the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe
regulations that, with regards to a military accession,
assignment, selection, or promotion--
(1) a determination shall be made on the basis of merit in
order to advance those individuals who exhibit the talent and
abilities necessary to promote the national security of the
United States;
(2) a candidate shall be evaluated on the bases of
qualifications, performance, integrity, fitness, training,
and conduct;
(3) no determination may be based on favoritism or
nepotism;
(4) no quota, goal, metric, objective, or other similar
means of measurement may be used; and
(5) no covered element may track race and sex for any
personnel or programs within those entities.
(c) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Covered armed force.--The term ``covered Armed Force''
means the following:
(A) The Army.
(B) The Navy.
(C) The Marine Corps.
(D) The Air Force.
(E) The Space Force.
(F) Special Operations Command.
(G) Entities within the Department of Homeland Security, to
include the United States Coast Guard.
(H) The Department of Defense, or any other organization
within the command structure.
(2) Contracted entity.--The term``contracted entity''
includes any organization on any contract or sub-contract
with the Department of Defense, a covered Armed Force, or
associated entity.
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