[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 119 (Monday, June 29, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Page S3965]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 2316. Mr. UDALL submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to 
amendment SA 2301 proposed by Mr. Inhofe 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 A of title XVI, add the following:

     SEC. 1610. REVIEW OF AND BRIEFING ON DEPARTMENT POLICIES TO 
                   MINIMIZE ORBITAL DEBRIS THREATS.

       (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
       (1) National security depends on reliable access to and 
     safe operations in space.
       (2) Critical Department of Defense and intelligence 
     community missions operating in space and providing 
     multidomain support depend on minimizing orbital threats, 
     including the threat posed by orbital debris.
       (3) Satellites and rocket bodies are major sources of space 
     debris, particularly in low-Earth orbit.
       (4) In addition to the threat posed by space debris, there 
     have been several notable close calls between active 
     satellites and active and defunct spacecraft.
       (5) The United States and global economies cannot afford 
     actual space collisions, much less the additional debris that 
     would result from such a collision.
       (6) The United States Government maintains and updates 
     orbital debris mitigation standard practices, and the most 
     recent update was completed in November 2019.
       (b) Review.--The Secretary of Defense shall review the 
     current policies of the Department for orbital debris 
     mitigation, including compliance with the orbital debris 
     mitigation standard practices referred to in subsection 
     (a)(6).
       (c) Briefing.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than 120 days after the date of 
     the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall provide a 
     briefing to the congressional defense committees on 
     Department plans to reach full compliance with such orbital 
     debris mitigation standard practices through the 
     establishment of Department-wide orbital debris mitigation 
     practices.
       (2) Element.--The briefing required by paragraph (1) shall 
     include a description of--
       (A) nominal end-of-mission operations, in which after 
     mission completion, all spacecraft and orbital launch vehicle 
     components are disposed as planned; and
       (B) off-nominal operations, in which, due to unexpected 
     scenarios or mishaps, planned disposal of spacecraft and 
     orbital launch vehicles are not able to be met.
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