Allied Burden Sharing Report Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 985 To require annual reports on allied contributions to the common defense, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES APRIL 2, 2019 Mr. LEE (for himself, Mr. PAUL, and Mr. BRAUN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations A BILL To require annual reports on allied contributions to the common defense, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Allied Burden Sharing 4 Report Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDING; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 6 (a) FINDING.—Congress finds that section 1003 of 7 the Department of Defense Authorization Act, 1985 (Pub- 8 lic Law 98–525; 63 Stat. 2241)— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 Apr 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 985 IS (1) expresses the sense of Congress that, due to 1 threats that are ever-changing, Congress must be in- 2 formed with respect to allied contributions to the 3 common defense to properly assess the readiness of 4 the United States and the countries described in sec- 5 tion 3(b) for threats; and 6 (2) requires the Secretary of Defense to submit 7 to Congress an annual report on the contributions of 8 allies to the common defense. 9 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con- 10 gress that— 11 (1) the threats facing the United States— 12 (A) extend beyond the global war on ter- 13 ror; and 14 (B) include near-peer threats; and 15 (2) the President should seek from each coun- 16 try described in section 3(b) acceptance of inter- 17 national security responsibilities and agreements to 18 make contributions to the common defense in ac- 19 cordance with the collective defense agreements or 20 treaties to which such country is a party. 21 SEC. 3. REPORTS ON ALLIED CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE 22 COMMON DEFENSE. 23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than March 1 each year, 24 the Secretary, in coordination with the heads of other Fed- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 Apr 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 985 IS eral agencies, as the Secretary determines to be necessary, 1 shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress 2 a report containing a description of— 3 (1) the annual defense spending by each coun- 4 try described in subsection (b), including available 5 data on nominal budget figures and defense spend- 6 ing as a percentage of the gross domestic products 7 of each such country for the fiscal year immediately 8 preceding the fiscal year in which the report is sub- 9 mitted; 10 (2) the activities of each such country to con- 11 tribute to military or stability operations in which 12 the Armed Forces of the United States are a partici- 13 pant or may be called upon in accordance with a co- 14 operative defense agreement to which the United 15 States is a party; 16 (3) any limitations placed by any such country 17 on the use of such contributions; and 18 (4) any actions undertaken by the United 19 States or by other countries to minimize such limita- 20 tions. 21 (b) COUNTRIES DESCRIBED.—The countries de- 22 scribed in this subsection are the following: 23 (1) Each member state of the North Atlantic 24 Treaty Organization. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 Apr 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 985 IS (2) Each member state of the Gulf Cooperation 1 Council. 2 (3) Each country party to the Inter-American 3 Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty), done 4 at Rio de Janeiro September 2, 1947, and entered 5 into force December 3, 1948 (TIAS 1838). 6 (4) Australia. 7 (5) Japan. 8 (6) New Zealand. 9 (7) The Philippines. 10 (8) South Korea. 11 (9) Thailand. 12 (c) FORM.—Each report under subsection (a) shall 13 be submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a clas- 14 sified annex. 15 (d) AVAILABILITY.—A report submitted under sub- 16 section (a) shall be made available on request to any Mem- 17 ber of Congress. 18 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 19 In this Act: 20 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON- 21 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con- 22 gress’’ means— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 Apr 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 985 IS (A) the Committee on Armed Services, the 1 Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Com- 2 mittee on Appropriations of the Senate; and 3 (B) the Committee on Armed Services, the 4 Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Com- 5 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Rep- 6 resentatives. 7 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 8 the Secretary of Defense. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 Apr 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS