II 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4720 

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, and Mr. PAUL) 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 ‘‘Allied Burden Sharing 

5 Report Act’’. 


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•S 4720 IS

1 SEC. 2. ANNUAL REPORT ON ALLIED CONTRIBUTIONS TO 

2 THE COMMON 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) extend beyond the global war on ter19 ror; and 

20 (B) include near-peer threats; and 

21 (2) the President should seek from each coun22 try described in subsection (c)(2) acceptance of 

23 international security responsibilities and agree24 ments to make contributions to the common defense 

25 in accordance with the collective defense agreements 

26 or treaties to which such country is a party. 


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•S 4720 IS

1 (c) ANNUAL REPORT ON ALLIED CONTRIBUTIONS TO

2 THE COMMON DEFENSE.— 

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

4 year, the Secretary of Defense, in coordination with 

5 the heads of other Federal agencies, as the Sec6 retary determines to be necessary, shall submit to 

7 the appropriate committees of Congress a report 

8 containing a description of— 

9 (A) the annual defense spending by each 

10 country described in paragraph (2), including 

11 available data on nominal budget figures and 

12 defense spending as a percentage of the gross 

13 domestic products of each such country for the 

14 fiscal year immediately preceding the fiscal year 

15 in which the report is submitted; 

16 (B) the activities of each such country to 

17 contribute to military or stability operations in 

18 which the Armed Forces of the United States 

19 are a participant or may be called upon in ac20 cordance with a cooperative defense agreement 

21 to which the United States is a party; 

22 (C) any limitations placed by any such 

23 country on the use of such contributions; and 


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•S 4720 IS

1 (D) any actions undertaken by the United 

2 States or by other countries to minimize such 

3 limitations. 

4 (2) COUNTRIES DESCRIBED.—The countries de5 scribed in this paragraph are the following: 

6 (A) Each member country of the North At7 lantic Treaty Organization. 

8 (B) Each member country of the Gulf Co9 operation Council. 

10 (C) Each country party to the Inter-Amer11 ican Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (Rio Trea12 ty), done at Rio de Janeiro September 2, 1947, 

13 and entered into force December 3, 1948 

14 (TIAS 1838). 

15 (D) Australia. 

16 (E) Japan. 

17 (F) New Zealand. 

18 (G) The Philippines. 

19 (H) South Korea. 

20 (I) Thailand. 

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

22 shall be submitted in unclassified form, but may 

23 contain a classified annex. 


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•S 4720 IS

1 (4) AVAILABILITY.—A report submitted under 

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

3 any Member of Congress. 

4 (d) APPROPRIATE COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE5 FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate commit6 tees of Congress’’ means— 

7 (1) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

8 Committee on Foreign Relations, and the Committee 

9 on Appropriations of the Senate; and 

10 (2) the Committee on Armed Services, the 

11 Committee on Foreign Affairs, and the Committee 

12 on Appropriations of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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