[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 8, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Page S3657]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 4581. Mr. SULLIVAN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed 
by him to the bill S. 2943, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2017 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:

       On page 1049, strike lines 14 through 16 and insert the 
     following:

     through the program, and the specific military operations 
     conducted.
       (4) Each partner country or ally, if any, included in the 
     military operations.
       (c) Form.--Each report under this section shall be 
     submitted in unclassified form.

     SEC. 1241A. UNITED STATES POLICY WITH RESPECT TO FREEDOM OF 
                   NAVIGATION OPERATIONS AND OVERFLIGHT BEYOND THE 
                   TERRITORIAL SEA.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) Since the Declaration of Independence in 1776, which 
     was inspired in part as a response to a ``tyrant'' who 
     ``plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts'' and who wrote laws 
     ``for cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world'', 
     freedom of seas and promotion of international commerce have 
     been core security interests of the United States.
       (2) Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United 
     States establishes enumerated powers for Congress which 
     include regulating commerce with foreign nations, punishing 
     piracies and felonies committed on the high seas and offenses 
     against the law of nations, and providing and maintaining a 
     Navy.
       (3) For centuries, the United States has maintained a 
     bedrock commitment to ensuring the right to freedom of 
     navigation for all law-abiding parties in every region of the 
     world.
       (4) In support of international law, the longstanding 
     United States commitment to freedom of navigation and 
     ensuring the free access to sea lanes to promote global 
     commerce remains a core security interest of the United 
     States.
       (5) This is particularly true in areas of the world that 
     are critical transportation corridors and key routes for 
     global commerce, such as the South China Sea and the East 
     China Sea, through which a significant portion of global 
     commerce transits.
       (6) The consistent exercise of freedom of navigation 
     operations and overflights by United States naval and air 
     forces throughout the world plays a critical role in 
     safeguarding the freedom of the seas for all lawful nations, 
     supporting international law, and ensuring the continued safe 
     passage and promotion of global commerce and trade.
       (b) Declaration of Policy.--It is the policy of the United 
     States to fly, sail, and operate throughout the oceans, seas, 
     and airspace of the world wherever international law allows.
       (c) Implementation of Policy.--In furtherance of the policy 
     set forth in subsection (b), the Secretary of Defense shall--
       (1) plan and execute a robust series of routine and regular 
     naval presence missions and freedom of navigation operations 
     (FONOPs) throughout the world, with a particular emphasis on 
     critical transportation corridors and key routes for global 
     commerce (such as the South China Sea and the East China 
     Sea);
       (2) execute, in such critical transportation corridors, 
     routine and regular naval presence missions and maritime 
     freedom of navigation operations throughout the year;
       (3) give preference in freedom of navigation operations to 
     unlawful or excessive maritime coastal state claims that have 
     not been challenged within the past three years;
       (4) in addition to the operations executed pursuant to 
     paragraph (2), execute routine and regular maritime freedom 
     of navigation operations throughout the year, in accordance 
     with international law, including the use of expanded 
     military options and maneuvers beyond innocent passage 
     (including operating under normal military conditions inside 
     12 nautical miles of features determined to be low-tide 
     elevations); and
       (5) to the maximum extent practicable, execute freedom of 
     navigation operations pursuant to this subsection with 
     regional partner countries and allies of the United States.
                                 ______