To require a report on the United States boot industrial base and Berry Amendment compliance.

SA 3880. Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Ms. Duckworth) submitted an
amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 3748 proposed by Mr.
Wicker (for himself and Mr. Reed) 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 C of title VIII, add the following:

SEC. 849B. REPORT ON UNITED STATES BOOT INDUSTRIAL BASE AND
BERRY AMENDMENT COMPLIANCE.

(a) Report Required.--Not later than 90 days after the date
of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense shall
submit to the congressional defense committees a report on
the United States boot industrial base, including a
comprehensive plan for the Department of Defense to fully
comply with the requirements under section 4862 of title 10,
United States Code (commonly referred to as the ``Berry
Amendment'') by not later than fiscal year 2028.
(b) Elements.--The report required under subsection (a)
shall include the following elements:
(1) A detailed description of current and surge
manufacturing capacity for Berry-compliant, government-issued
boots, including suppliers of leather, textiles, soles, and
components, as well as risks to supply chain resilience and
small business participation. Surge manufacturing capacity
includes all major domestic manufacturers of boots including
those not currently supplying Berry-compliant boots.
(2) A market survey of domestic boot manufacturers
regarding interest in producing Berry-compliant boots if
there were to be a requirement that all members of the Armed
Forces are required to only wear Berry-compliant boots.
(3) A time-phased schedule of actions, milestones, and
resources required to achieve full Berry Amendment compliance
for combat footwear across all military services by fiscal
year 2028.
(4) An assessment of how current policies allowing the wear
of ``optional combat boots'' that are not Berry-compliant
undermine the intent of the Berry Amendment and weaken the
United States industrial base, and recommendations for coming
into compliance.
(5) A plan to implement and enforce narrowly tailored
availability and medical exemptions, as authorized under
section 4862(c) of title 10, United States Code, with
controls to prevent overuse.
(6) Steps to expand industrial capacity for Berry-compliant
government-issued boots through multiyear contracting, demand
forecasting, inventory planning, and attracting new Berry-
compliant suppliers by requiring that optional boots must be
Berry-compliant.
______