[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 119 (Monday, June 29, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3702-S3703]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 2247. Mr. INHOFE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill S. 4049, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2021 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:

       At the end of subtitle G of title XII, add the following:

     SEC. 1287. SENSE OF SENATE ON DEFENSE SPENDING AND GLOBAL 
                   SECURITY CHALLENGES.

       It is the sense of the Senate that--
       (1) as recommended by the bipartisan National Defense 
     Strategy Commission report issued in November 2018, 
     ``Congress should increase the size of the base defense 
     budget significantly through the Future Years Defense Program 
     and perhaps beyond.'';

[[Page S3703]]

       (2) as recommended by former Secretary of Defense Jim 
     Mattis and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff 
     General Joseph Dunford, as well as the bipartisan National 
     Defense Strategy Commission report issued in November 2018, 
     real growth of at least three to five percent annual growth 
     in the budget for the Department of Defense is required to 
     achieve the objectives of the National Defense Strategy;
       (3) the need for three to five percent real growth in the 
     budget for the Department preceded the COVID-19 pandemic, 
     which has already imposed significant costs on the 
     Department, and is likely to do so in the future given the 
     effects on the defense industrial base and the Department's 
     role in supporting the whole-of-government response to COVID-
     19;
       (4) increasingly aggressive behavior by the People's 
     Republic of China during the COVID-19 pandemic, including 
     coercive and violent actions against allies and partners of 
     the United States, is indicative of intensifying strategic 
     competition requiring robust and sustained investment in the 
     United States Armed Forces; and
       (5) Congress should support sufficient, timely, and 
     sustained defense investment in order to--
       (A) achieve the objectives of the National Defense 
     Strategy; and
       (B) confront a complex array of global security challenges, 
     including those which have intensified in the aftermath of 
     the COVID-19 pandemic.
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