II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 985 

To require annual reports on allied contributions to the common defense, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 2, 2019 

Mr. LEE (for himself, Mr. PAUL, and Mr. BRAUN) introduced the following 

bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To require annual reports on allied contributions to the 

common defense, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Allied Burden Sharing 

5 Report Act of 2019’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDING; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

7 (a) FINDING.—Congress finds that section 1003 of 

8 the Department of Defense Authorization Act, 1985 (Pub9 lic Law 98–525; 63 Stat. 2241)— 


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1 (1) expresses the sense of Congress that, due to 

2 threats that are ever-changing, Congress must be in3 formed with respect to allied contributions to the 

4 common defense to properly assess the readiness of 

5 the United States and the countries described in sec6 tion 3(b) for threats; and 

7 (2) requires the Secretary of Defense to submit 

8 to Congress an annual report on the contributions of 

9 allies to the common defense. 

10 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con11 gress that— 

12 (1) the threats facing the United States— 

13 (A) extend beyond the global war on ter14 ror; and 

15 (B) include near-peer threats; and 

16 (2) the President should seek from each coun17 try described in section 3(b) acceptance of inter18 national security responsibilities and agreements to 

19 make contributions to the common defense in ac20 cordance with the collective defense agreements or 

21 treaties to which such country is a party. 

22 SEC. 3. REPORTS ON ALLIED CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE 

23 COMMON DEFENSE. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than March 1 each year, 

25 the Secretary, in coordination with the heads of other FedVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:29 Apr 06, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S985.IS S985

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1 eral agencies, as the Secretary determines to be necessary, 

2 shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress 

3 a report containing a description of— 

4 (1) the annual defense spending by each coun5 try described in subsection (b), including available 

6 data on nominal budget figures and defense spend7 ing as a percentage of the gross domestic products 

8 of each such country for the fiscal year immediately 

9 preceding the fiscal year in which the report is sub10 mitted; 

11 (2) the activities of each such country to con12 tribute to military or stability operations in which 

13 the Armed Forces of the United States are a partici14 pant or may be called upon in accordance with a co15 operative defense agreement to which the United 

16 States is a party; 

17 (3) any limitations placed by any such country 

18 on the use of such contributions; and 

19 (4) any actions undertaken by the United 

20 States or by other countries to minimize such limita21 tions. 

22 (b) COUNTRIES DESCRIBED.—The countries de23 scribed in this subsection are the following: 

24 (1) Each member state of the North Atlantic 

25 Treaty Organization. 


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1 (2) Each member state of the Gulf Cooperation 

2 Council. 

3 (3) Each country party to the Inter-American 

4 Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Treaty), done 

5 at Rio de Janeiro September 2, 1947, and entered 

6 into force December 3, 1948 (TIAS 1838). 

7 (4) Australia. 

8 (5) Japan. 

9 (6) New Zealand. 

10 (7) The Philippines. 

11 (8) South Korea. 

12 (9) Thailand. 

13 (c) FORM.—Each report under subsection (a) shall 

14 be submitted in unclassified form, but may contain a clas15 sified annex. 

16 (d) AVAILABILITY.—A report submitted under sub17 section (a) shall be made available on request to any Mem18 ber of Congress. 

19 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

20 In this Act: 

21 (1) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CON22 GRESS.—The term ‘‘appropriate committees of Con23 gress’’ means— 


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1 (A) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

2 Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Com3 mittee on Appropriations of the Senate; and 

4 (B) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

5 Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Com6 mittee on Appropriations of the House of Rep7 resentatives. 

8 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

9 the Secretary of Defense. 

Æ 


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