II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4016 

To reiterate the support of Congress for the relationship between the United 

States and the Federal Republic of Germany, to prevent the weakening 

of the deterrence capacity of the United States in Europe, to prohibit 

use of funds to withdraw the United States Armed Forces from Europe, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 18, 2020 

Mr. MENENDEZ introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To reiterate the support of Congress for the relationship 

between the United States and the Federal Republic 

of Germany, to prevent the weakening of the deterrence 

capacity of the United States in Europe, to prohibit 

use of funds to withdraw the United States Armed 

Forces from Europe, 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 ‘‘Maintaining United 

5 States National Security Interests in Europe Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find3 ings: 

4 (1) The 2017 National Security Strategy states, 

5 ‘‘[t]he United States will deepen collaboration with 

6 our European allies and partners to confront forces 

7 threatening to undermine our common values, secu8 rity interests, and shared vision. The United States 

9 and Europe will work together to counter Russian 

10 subversion and aggression, and the threats posed by 

11 North Korea and Iran. We will continue to advance 

12 our shared principles and interests in international 

13 forums.’’. 

14 (2) After the end of World War II, the presence 

15 of foreign military forces in Germany was governed 

16 by a law signed in April 1949 that allowed France, 

17 the United Kingdom, and the United States to re18 tain forces in Germany. 

19 (3) The initial law was succeeded by the Con20 vention on the Presence of Foreign Forces in the 

21 Federal Republic of Germany, signed at Paris on 

22 October 23, 1954, allowing eight North Atlantic 

23 Treaty Organization (NATO) members, specifically 

24 Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Luxembourg, 

25 the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the 


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1 United States, to maintain a long-term presence of 

2 military forces in the Federal Republic of Germany. 

3 (4) The Federal Republic of Germany has made 

4 significant contributions to the North Atlantic Trea5 ty Organization alliance, and by hosting the largest 

6 United States Armed Forces presence in Europe, the 

7 Federal Republic of Germany has borne a significant 

8 burden in the interest of collective security. 

9 (5) As of June 2020, the United States pres10 ence in various locations in the Federal Republic of 

11 Germany, including in Stuttgart at the United 

12 States European Command and the United States 

13 Africa Command, consists of— 

14 (A) approximately— 

15 (i) 35,000 members of the Armed 

16 Forces; 

17 (ii) 10,000 Department of Defense ci18 vilian employees; and 

19 (iii) 2,000 defense contractors; 

20 (B) personnel of the Department of State 

21 and other United States Government agencies; 

22 and 

23 (C) the dependents of individuals described 

24 in subparagraphs (A) and (B). 


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1 (6) The United States presence in Europe, in2 cluding in the Federal Republic of Germany— 

3 (A) protects and defends the United States 

4 and United States allies and partners by deter5 ring conflict with the Russian Federation and 

6 other adversaries; 

7 (B) strengthens and supports the North 

8 Atlantic Treaty Organization alliance and crit9 ical partnerships in Europe; and 

10 (C) serves as an essential support platform 

11 for carrying out vital national security engage12 ments in Afghanistan, the Middle East, Africa, 

13 and Europe. 

14 (7) The deep bilateral ties between the United 

15 States and the Federal Republic of Germany have 

16 led to decades of economic prosperity for both coun17 tries and their allies and have strengthened human 

18 rights and democracy around the world. 

19 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con20 gress that— 

21 (1) the United States should continue to main22 tain and strengthen the bilateral relationship with 

23 the Federal Republic of Germany and the relation24 ships with other European allies; 


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1 (2) the United States should maintain a robust 

2 military presence in the Federal Republic of Ger3 many so as to deter further aggression from the 

4 Russian Federation or aggression from other adver5 saries against the United States and its allies and 

6 partners; and 

7 (3) the United States should remain committed 

8 to strong collaboration with European allies as out9 lined in the 2017 National Security Strategy. 

10 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS TO WITHDRAW 

11 THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES FROM 

12 EUROPE. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

14 (b), notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Fed15 eral funds are authorized to be appropriated, obligated, 

16 expended, or otherwise made available to take any ac17 tion— 

18 (1) to withdraw or otherwise reduce the overall 

19 presence, including the rotational presence, of 

20 United States Armed Forces personnel and civilian 

21 employees of the Department of Defense in Europe; 

22 (2) to close or change the status of any base or 

23 other facility of the United States Armed Forces lo24 cated in Europe; or 


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1 (3) to withdraw or otherwise reduce the overall 

2 presence of United States Armed Forces assets in 

3 Europe. 

4 (b) EXCEPTIONS.—The prohibition under subsection 

5 (a) shall not apply if— 

6 (1) the host government transmits to the 

7 United States Government a written request for 

8 such a withdrawal or other reduction; or 

9 (2)(A) the President declares the intent to take 

10 an action described in subsection (a); 

11 (B) not later 180 days before initiating an ac12 tion described in subsection (a), the President sub13 mits to the appropriate committees of Congress no14 tice of such intent that includes— 

15 (i) a justification for the action; 

16 (ii) the number of members of the United 

17 States Armed Forces or civilian employees of 

18 the Department of Defense to be withdrawn or 

19 reduced, as applicable; 

20 (iii) a description of the United States 

21 Armed Forces assets to be withdrawn or re22 duced, as applicable; 

23 (iv) a description of any base or facility of 

24 the United States Armed Forces in Europe to 


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1 be subject to closure or change of status, as ap2 plicable; 

3 (v) an explanation of the national security 

4 benefit of the action to the United States and 

5 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; and 

6 (vi) a plan to offset the reduction in 

7 United States and North Atlantic Treaty Orga8 nization conventional deterrence against Rus9 sian Federation aggression caused by the ac10 tion; and 

11 (C) the action is expressly authorized by a joint 

12 resolution of Congress or an Act of Congress en13 acted after the date of the declaration described in 

14 subparagraph (A). 

15 (c) PUBLIC TESTIMONY.—Not later than 14 days 

16 after the submittal of the notice required by subparagraph 

17 (B), the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense 

18 shall testify before the appropriate committees of Congress 

19 in public session on such withdrawal or reduction. 

20 SEC. 4. REPORT TO CONGRESS ON DECISION TO WITH21 DRAW THE UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES 

22 FROM GERMANY. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

24 date of the enactment of this Act, the President, in con25 sultation with the Secretary of State, the Secretary of DeVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:19 Jul 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4016.IS S4016

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1 fense, and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, shall 

2 submit to the appropriate committees of Congress, a re3 port that details the decisionmaking process used to arrive 

4 at the decision to withdraw members of the Armed Forces 

5 from the Federal Republic of Germany announced on 

6 June 15, 2020. 

7 (b) ELEMENTS.—The report required by subsection 

8 (a) shall include the following: 

9 (1) An assessment of whether any withdrawal 

10 of or reduction in United States Armed Forces per11 sonnel in the Federal Republic of Germany was or12 dered by a Presidential directive. 

13 (2) A description of the interagency process un14 dertaken to inform the decision outlined in any such 

15 Presidential directive or other document calling for 

16 such a withdrawal or reduction. 

17 (3) A description of the communications with 

18 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Govern19 ment of the Federal Republic of Germany, or other 

20 North Atlantic Treaty Organization member coun21 tries about the potential decision to change United 

22 States force posture in the Federal Republic of Ger23 many. 

24 (4) An analysis of the United States national 

25 security implications of the proposed withdrawal or 


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1 reduction of United States Armed Forces presence 

2 in the Federal Republic of Germany. 

3 SEC. 5. APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE4 FINED. 

5 In this Act, the term ‘‘appropriate committees of 

6 Congress’’ means— 

7 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 

8 Committee on Armed Services, the Select Committee 

9 on Intelligence, and the Committee on Appropria10 tions of the Senate; and 

11 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

12 Committee on Armed Services, the Permanent Select 

13 Committee on Intelligence, and the Committee on 

14 Appropriations of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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