[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4726 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4726

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, Mr. Paul, and Mr. Rubio) 
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 ``NATO Burden Sharing Report Act''.

SEC. 2. 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) include near-peer threats; and
                    (B) require the United States to prioritize 
                military assets and resources in accordance with the 
                most recent National Defense Strategy;
            (2) the United States should not continue to shoulder a 
        disproportionate share of the burden for European security 
        while current and prospective members of the North Atlantic 
        Treaty Organization neglect to meet defense spending 
        guidelines; and
            (3) the President should seek from each member country of 
        the North Atlantic Treaty Organization acceptance of 
        international security responsibilities and agreements to make 
        contributions to the common defense in accordance with the 
        collective defense treaty to which such country is a party.
    (c) Reports 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;
                    (D) any actions undertaken by the United States or 
                by other countries to minimize such limitations; and
                    (E) with respect to each such country--
                            (i) the contributions made by the country 
                        to Ukraine, including an indication of whether 
                        such contributions relate to hard or soft 
                        power;
                            (ii) an assessment of the health of the 
                        defense industrial base of the country;
                            (iii) the comparative advantages of the 
                        defense industrial base of the country;
                            (iv) the size and structure of the military 
                        forces of the country, including an estimate of 
                        the amount of time required for such forces to 
                        achieve full military mobilization;
                            (v) any area in which the country would be 
                        fully dependent on allied military assets;
                            (vi) any delivery received or contract 
                        entered into by the country through the Foreign 
                        Military Sales or the Foreign Military 
                        Financing program during the preceding year;
                            (vii) any change in defense spending during 
                        the preceding year; and
                            (viii) the amount defense spending 
                        anticipated in the subsequent year.
            (2) Countries described.--The countries described in this 
        paragraph are the following:
                    (A) Each member country of the North Atlantic 
                Treaty Organization.
                    (B) Each country participating in a North Atlantic 
                Treaty Organization Membership Action Plan.
            (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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