[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1791 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1791

To require the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency to conduct a 
 comparative study on the defense budgets of the People's Republic of 
          China and the United States, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              June 1, 2023

   Mr. Romney (for himself, Mr. Manchin, Mr. Sullivan, and Mr. King) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                    Select Committee on Intelligence

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency to conduct a 
 comparative study on the defense budgets of the People's Republic of 
          China and the United States, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``China Defense Spending Transparency 
Act''.

SEC. 2. COMPARATIVE STUDY ON DEFENSE BUDGET TRANSPARENCY OF THE 
              PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES.

    (a) Study Required.--
            (1) Defense intelligence agency study.--Not later than 180 
        days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director 
        of the Defense Intelligence Agency shall complete and submit to 
        the appropriate committees of Congress a public comparative 
        study on the defense budgets of the People's Republic of China 
        and the United States.
            (2) Methodology.--The study required by paragraph (1) shall 
        employ a robust methodology that--
                    (A) does not depend on the official pronouncements 
                of the Government of the People's Republic of China or 
                the Chinese Communist Party;
                    (B) takes into account the military-civil fusion 
                present in the People's Republic of China; and
                    (C) employs the building block method of analysis 
                or a similar method of analysis.
            (3) Goal.--The goal of the study required by paragraph (1) 
        shall be to provide the people of the United States with an 
        accurate comparison of the defense spending of the People's 
        Republic of China and the United States.
            (4) Public availability.--The Director shall make the study 
        required by paragraph (1) available to the public on the 
        internet website of the Defense Intelligence Agency.
    (b) Elements.--The study required by this section shall do the 
following:
            (1) Determine the amounts invested by each subject country 
        across functional categories for spending, including--
                    (A) defense-related research and development;
                    (B) weapons procurement from domestic and foreign 
                sources;
                    (C) operations and maintenance;
                    (D) pay and benefits; and
                    (E) military pensions.
            (2) Consider the effects of purchasing power parity and 
        market exchange rates, particularly on nontraded goods.
            (3) Estimate the magnitude of omitted spending from 
        official defense budget information and account for such 
        spending in the comparison.
            (4) Exclude spending related to veterans' benefits, other 
        than military pensions provided to veterans.
    (c) Considerations.--The study required by this section may take 
into consideration the following:
            (1) The effects of State-owned enterprises on the defense 
        expenditures of the People's Republic of China.
            (2) The role of differing acquisition policies and 
        structures with respect to the defense expenditures of each 
        subject country.
            (3) Any other matter relevant to evaluating the resources 
        dedicated to the defense spending or the various military-
        related outlays of the People's Republic of China.
    (d) Form.--The study required by this section shall be submitted in 
unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
    (e) Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Armed 
        Services, the Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Select 
        Committee on Intelligence of the Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Appropriations, the Committee on Armed 
        Services, the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Permanent 
        Select Committee on Intelligence of the House of 
        Representatives.
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