[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4720 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4720

To require the Secretary of Defense to submit annual reports on allied 
      contributions to the common defense, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                July 11 (legislative day, July 10), 2024

  Mr. Lee (for himself, Mr. Tuberville, and Mr. Paul) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                           Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To require the Secretary of Defense to submit annual reports on allied 
      contributions to the common defense, 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 ``Allied Burden Sharing Report Act''.

SEC. 2. ANNUAL REPORT ON ALLIED CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE COMMON DEFENSE.

    (a) Finding.--Congress finds that section 1003 of the Department of 
Defense Authorization Act, 1985 (Public Law 98-525; 63 Stat. 2241)--
            (1) expresses the sense of Congress that, due to threats 
        that are ever-changing, Congress must be informed with respect 
        to allied contributions to the common defense to properly 
        assess the readiness of the United States and the countries 
        described in subsection (c)(2) for threats; and
            (2) requires the Secretary of Defense to submit to Congress 
        an annual report on the contributions of allies to the common 
        defense.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the threats facing the United States--
                    (A) extend beyond the global war on terror; and
                    (B) include near-peer threats; and
            (2) the President should seek from each country described 
        in subsection (c)(2) acceptance of international security 
        responsibilities and agreements to make contributions to the 
        common defense in accordance with the collective defense 
        agreements or treaties to which such country is a party.
    (c) Annual Report on Allied Contributions to the Common Defense.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than March 1 each year, the 
        Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the heads of other 
        Federal agencies, as the Secretary determines to be necessary, 
        shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a report 
        containing a description of--
                    (A) the annual defense spending by each country 
                described in paragraph (2), including available data on 
                nominal budget figures and defense spending as a 
                percentage of the gross domestic products of each such 
                country for the fiscal year immediately preceding the 
                fiscal year in which the report is submitted;
                    (B) the activities of each such country to 
                contribute to military or stability operations in which 
                the Armed Forces of the United States are a participant 
                or may be called upon in accordance with a cooperative 
                defense agreement to which the United States is a 
                party;
                    (C) any limitations placed by any such country on 
                the use of such contributions; and
                    (D) any actions undertaken by the United States or 
                by other countries to minimize such limitations.
            (2) Countries described.--The countries described in this 
        paragraph are the following:
                    (A) Each member country of the North Atlantic 
                Treaty Organization.
                    (B) Each member country of the Gulf Cooperation 
                Council.
                    (C) Each country party to the Inter-American Treaty 
                of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty), done at Rio de 
                Janeiro September 2, 1947, and entered into force 
                December 3, 1948 (TIAS 1838).
                    (D) Australia.
                    (E) Japan.
                    (F) New Zealand.
                    (G) The Philippines.
                    (H) South Korea.
                    (I) Thailand.
            (3) Form.--Each report under paragraph (1) shall be 
        submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a classified 
        annex.
            (4) Availability.--A report submitted under paragraph (1) 
        shall be made available on request to any Member of Congress.
    (d) Appropriate Committees of Congress Defined.--In this section, 
the term ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on 
        Foreign Relations, and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
        Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee on 
        Foreign Affairs, and the Committee on Appropriations of the 
        House of Representatives.
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