[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 120 (Thursday, July 13, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Page S2868]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 758. Mr. BROWN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill S. 2226, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2024 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 appropriate place in title VII, insert the 
     following:

     SEC. ___. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON MAINTAINING INPATIENT MILITARY 
                   MEDICAL TREATMENT FACILITIES.

       It is the sense of the Congress that--
       (1) inpatient military medical treatment facilities are 
     critical components of the military health system and are 
     necessary to develop and maintain a medically ready military 
     that can be deployed on short notice on an operational 
     mission;
       (2) inpatient military medical treatment facilities are 
     required to develop and retain the skilled medical personnel 
     who provide the properly trained subspecialities needed to 
     care for members of the Armed Forces in wartime and during 
     deployments;
       (3) the Secretary of each military department should 
     support a sufficient number of inpatient medical treatment 
     facilities of the size and diversity of specialties necessary 
     to ensure military readiness; and
       (4) the Director of the Defense Health Agency and the 
     Secretary of each military department, particularly the 
     Secretary of the Air Force, should aggressively pursue 
     creative options, including increased partnership with the 
     Secretary of Veterans Affairs, to maintain economical 
     efficiency for inpatient military medical treatment 
     facilities.
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