II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4726 

To require the Secretary of Defense to submit annual reports on allied 

contributions to the common defense, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 11 (legislative day, JULY 10), 2024 

Mr. LEE (for himself, Mr. TUBERVILLE, Mr. PAUL, and Mr. RUBIO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Defense to submit 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 ‘‘NATO Burden Shar5 ing Report Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REPORT ON ALLIED CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE COM2 MON DEFENSE. 

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

4 the Department of Defense Authorization Act, 1985 (Pub5 lic Law 98–525; 63 Stat. 2241)— 

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

7 threats that are ever-changing, Congress must be in8 formed with respect to allied contributions to the 

9 common defense to properly assess the readiness of 

10 the United States and the countries described in 

11 subsection (c)(2) for threats; and 

12 (2) requires the Secretary of Defense to submit 

13 to Congress an annual report on the contributions of 

14 allies to the common defense. 

15 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con16 gress that— 

17 (1) the threats facing the United States— 

18 (A) include near-peer threats; and 

19 (B) require the United States to prioritize 

20 military assets and resources in accordance with 

21 the most recent National Defense Strategy; 

22 (2) the United States should not continue to 

23 shoulder a disproportionate share of the burden for 

24 European security while current and prospective 

25 members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 

26 neglect to meet defense spending guidelines; and 


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1 (3) the President should seek from each mem2 ber country of the North Atlantic Treaty Organiza3 tion acceptance of international security responsibil4 ities and agreements to make contributions to the 

5 common defense in accordance with the collective de6 fense treaty to which such country is a party. 

7 (c) REPORTS ON ALLIED CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE

8 COMMON DEFENSE.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than March 1 each 

10 year, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with 

11 the heads of other Federal agencies, as the Sec12 retary determines to be necessary, shall submit to 

13 the appropriate committees of Congress a report 

14 containing a description of— 

15 (A) the annual defense spending by each 

16 country described in paragraph (2), including 

17 available data on nominal budget figures and 

18 defense spending as a percentage of the gross 

19 domestic products of each such country for the 

20 fiscal year immediately preceding the fiscal year 

21 in which the report is submitted; 

22 (B) the activities of each such country to 

23 contribute to military or stability operations in 

24 which the Armed Forces of the United States 

25 are a participant or may be called upon in acVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:50 Aug 16, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4726.IS S4726

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1 cordance with a cooperative defense agreement 

2 to which the United States is a party; 

3 (C) any limitations placed by any such 

4 country on the use of such contributions; 

5 (D) any actions undertaken by the United 

6 States or by other countries to minimize such 

7 limitations; and 

8 (E) with respect to each such country— 

9 (i) the contributions made by the 

10 country to Ukraine, including an indication 

11 of whether such contributions relate to 

12 hard or soft power; 

13 (ii) an assessment of the health of the 

14 defense industrial base of the country; 

15 (iii) the comparative advantages of 

16 the defense industrial base of the country; 

17 (iv) the size and structure of the mili18 tary forces of the country, including an es19 timate of the amount of time required for 

20 such forces to achieve full military mobili21 zation; 

22 (v) any area in which the country 

23 would be fully dependent on allied military 

24 assets; 


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1 (vi) any delivery received or contract 

2 entered into by the country through the 

3 Foreign Military Sales or the Foreign Mili4 tary Financing program during the pre5 ceding year; 

6 (vii) any change in defense spending 

7 during the preceding year; and 

8 (viii) the amount defense spending an9 ticipated in the subsequent year. 

10 (2) COUNTRIES DESCRIBED.—The countries de11 scribed in this paragraph are the following: 

12 (A) Each member country of the North At13 lantic Treaty Organization. 

14 (B) Each country participating in a North 

15 Atlantic Treaty Organization Membership Ac16 tion Plan. 

17 (3) FORM.—Each report under paragraph (1) 

18 shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 

19 contain a classified annex. 

20 (4) AVAILABILITY.—A report submitted under 

21 paragraph (1) shall be made available on request to 

22 any Member of Congress. 

23 (d) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE24 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate commit25 tees of Congress’’ means— 


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1 (1) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

2 Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Committee 

3 on Appropriations of the Senate; and 

4 (2) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

5 Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Committee 

6 on Appropriations of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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