S.Amdt. 6549

SA 6549. Mr. THUNE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by
him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2027 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 A of title IV, add the following:

SEC. 402. EXCLUSION FROM ACTIVE-DUTY PERSONNEL END STRENGTH
LIMITATIONS OF CERTAIN MILITARY PERSONNEL.

(a) Exclusion.--Except as provided in subsection (d),
members of the Armed Forces on active duty who are assigned
to an entity specified in subsection (b) for any of the
duties specified in subsection (c) shall not count toward any
end strength limitation for active-duty personnel otherwise
applicable to members of the Armed Forces on active duty.
(b) Specified Entities.--The entities specified in this
subsection are the following:
(1) The military departments.
(2) The Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

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(3) The combatant commands.
(c) Specified Duties.--The duties specified in this
subsection are the following:
(1) Duty in connection with the Foreign Military Sales
(FMS) program.
(2) Duty at an embassy of the United States in support of
bilateral security cooperation.
(3) Duty at an embassy of the United States in support of
intelligence requirements.
(d) Inapplicability to General and Flag Officers.--
Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to any general or
flag officer assigned as described in that subsection.
(e) Rule of Construction.--The exclusion described in
subsection (a) shall only be applied in instances when--
(1) any additional revenues relating to the activities
described in subsection (c) as a result of the exclusion
provided in subsection (a) could be reasonably expected to
offset any additional personnel costs relating to the
exclusion provided under subsection (a); or
(2) any cost avoidance achieved by the exclusion provided
under subsection (a) as a result of increased burdensharing
by security partners and allies relating to the activities
described in subsection (c) could be reasonably expected to
offset any additional personnel costs relating to the
exclusion provided under subsection (a).
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