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[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2177 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2177

 To ensure effective Congressional oversight of overseas military base 
  support carried out by NATO host countries for the United States as 
    payments-in-kind for release of United States overseas military 
        facilities to such countries and to reduce the deficit.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                 June 9 (legislative day, June 7), 1994

Mr. Lautenberg introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
              referred to the Committee on Armed Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
 To ensure effective Congressional oversight of overseas military base 
  support carried out by NATO host countries for the United States as 
    payments-in-kind for release of United States overseas military 
        facilities to such countries and to reduce the deficit.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The United States has invested $6,500,000,000 in 
        military infrastructure in North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
        (NATO) countries.
            (2) As part of an overall plan to reduce United States 
        troop strength in Europe from 323,432 in 1987 to 100,000 by the 
        end of 1996, the Department of Defense plans to close or reduce 
        United States military presence at 867 military sites overseas.
            (3) Most of the overseas military sites announced for 
        closure are in Europe where the United States has already 
        closed 434 such sites.
            (4) When the United States closes military sites in Europe, 
        the United States brings the military personnel home but leaves 
        buildings, roads, sewers, and other real property improvements 
        behind.
            (5) Through a series of so-called ``residual value'' 
        agreements, some allies have agreed to pay the United States 
        for the value of the real property improvements left behind.
            (6) Although the United States military drawdown has been 
        rapid since 1990, European allies have been slow to pay the 
        United States the residual value of the sites released by the 
        United States.
            (7) As of 1994, the United States has recouped only 
        $33,300,000 in cash, and most of that was recovered in 1989.
            (8) Although the United States has released to Germany over 
        60 percent of the military sites planned for closure by the 
        United States in that country and the current value of United 
        States facilities to be returned to the German government is 
        estimated at approximately $2,700,000,000, the German 
        government has budgeted only $25,000,000 for fiscal year 1994 
        for payment of compensation for the United States investment in 
        such improvements.

SEC. 2. POLICY.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the President should redouble efforts to recover the 
        value of the United States investment in the military 
        infrastructure of NATO countries;
            (2) the President should enter into negotiations with the 
        government of each NATO host country with a presumption that 
        payments to compensate the United States for the fair market 
        value of improvements will be made in cash and deposited in the 
        Department of Defense Overseas Military Facility Investment 
        Recovery Account;
            (3) the President should enter into negotiations for 
        payments-in-kind only as a last resort and only after informing 
        the Congress that negotiations for cash payments have not been 
        successful; and
            (4) to the extent that in-kind contributions are received 
        in lieu of cash payments in any fiscal year, the in-kind 
        contributions should directly offset costs that would otherwise 
        be incurred by the Department of Defense for overseas base 
        support that has been approved by Congress or for overseas base 
        support requested by the President in the budget submitted to 
        Congress for the succeeding fiscal year.

SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS AND LIMITATIONS RELATING TO PAYMENTS IN KIND.

    (a) Requirement for Justification for Negotiations for Payments-in-
Kind.--Subsection (e) of section 2921 of the National Defense 
Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1992 (10 U.S.C. 2687 note) is 
amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``Negotiations for Payments-
        in-Kind.--'';
            (2) by striking out ``a written notice'' and all that 
        follows and inserting in lieu thereof ``to the congressional 
        defense committees (and one additional copy to each of the 
        Subcommittees on Defense of the Committees on Appropriations of 
        the Senate and the House of Representatives) a written notice 
        regarding the intended negotiations.''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
    ``(2) The notice shall contain the following:
            ``(A) A justification for entering into negotiations for 
        payments-in-kind with the host country.
            ``(B) The types of benefit options to be pursued by the 
        Secretary in the negotiations.
            ``(C) The specific overseas base support activities (for 
        which funding has either previously been approved by Congress 
        or requested in the latest budget transmitted by the President 
        to Congress pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 31, United 
        States Code) that could be curtailed, eliminated, terminated, 
        or withdrawn to reduce the amount of United States overseas 
        base support spending by an amount not less that the fair 
        market value of the improvements to be released to the host 
        country in exchange for the payments-in-kind.''.
    (b) Deficit Reduction Through Payments-in-Kind.--Such section is 
amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(h) Deficit Reduction Through Payments-in-Kind.--(1)(A) Not less 
than 30 days before the Secretary of Defense enters into an agreement 
with a host country to accept from the host country any improvement as 
a payment-in-kind, the President shall--
            ``(i) submit to Congress a request for rescission of 
        appropriations for overseas base support;
            ``(ii) submit to Congress a message recommending a 
        reduction in the request for appropriations for overseas base 
        support that is set forth in the budget transmitted to Congress 
        pursuant to section 1105(a) of title 31, United States Code, 
        for the fiscal year that begins in the year that the President 
        submits the message to Congress; or
            ``(iii) a combination of actions under clauses (i) and 
        (ii).
    ``(B) The total amount of the reductions proposed to be achieved in 
the proposed actions submitted pursuant to subparagraph (A) in the case 
of a payment-in-kind of a host country may not be less than the fair 
market value of the improvements to be released to the host country in 
exchange for such payment-in-kind.
    ``(2) The Secretary of Defense may not accept as a payment-in-kind 
any improvements to real property that, if undertaken to be made by the 
Department of Defense, would be subject to--
            ``(A) the requirement for authorization of appropriations 
        for military construction set forth in section 114(a)(6) of 
        title 10, United States Code, and
            ``(B) the requirement set forth in section 2802 of such 
        title, relating to authorization of military construction 
        projects by law,
unless such improvements comprise a military construction project that 
is authorized by law.''.
    (c) Overseas Base Support Defined.--Such section, as amended by 
subsection (b), is further amended by adding at the end the following 
new subsection:
    ``(i) Overseas Base Support Defined.--In subsections (e) and (h), 
the term `overseas base support' means--
            ``(1) military construction (as defined in section 114(b) 
        of title 10, United States Code) outside the United States;
            ``(2) maintenance of real property outside the United 
        States for the Department of Defense; and
            ``(3) contributions for the North Atlantic Treaty 
        Organization Infrastructure Program as provided in section 2806 
        of title 10, United States Code.''.

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