TITLE I—FINDINGS, POLICY, AND
PURPOSES
SEC. 101. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) Since January 1993, presidential
budgets and budget plans have set forth
a 
reduction 
in 
defense 
spending 
of
$156,000,000,000 through fiscal year 1999.
(2) The fiscal year 1995 budget is the
10th consecutive year of reductions in
real defense spending and, with the ex-
ception of fiscal year 1948, represents the
lowest percentage of gross domestic prod-
uct for any defense budget since World
War II.
(3) During fiscal year 1995, the num-
ber of active duty, reserve component,
and civilian personnel of the Department
of Defense will be reduced by 182,000, a
rate of over 15,000 per month or over 500
per day. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
estimates that 1,200,000 defense-related
private sector jobs will be lost by 1997.
(4) Despite severe reductions and
shortfalls in defense funding and force
structure, since 1993 United States mili-
tary forces have been deployed more
often and committed to more peacetime
missions per year than ever before. Most
of these missions involve United Nations
peacekeeping and humanitarian efforts.
At the end of fiscal year 1994, over 70,000
United States personnel were serving in
such regions as Iraq, Bosnia, Macedonia,
the Adriatic Sea, Rwanda, and the Carib-
bean Sea for missions involving Haiti and
Cuba.
(5) United Nations assessments to the
United States for peacekeeping missions
totaled over $1,000,000,000 in 1994. The
United States is assessed 31.7 percent of
annual United Nations costs for peace-
keeping. The next highest contributor,
Japan, only pays 12.5 percent of such
costs. The Department of Defense also in-
curs hundreds of millions of dollars in
costs every year for United States mili-
tary participation in United Nations
peacekeeping or humanitarian missions,
most of which are not reimbursed by the
United Nations. For fiscal year 1994,
these Department of Defense costs to-
taled over $1,721,000,000.
(6) Credible and effective collective
action on international security con-
cerns, through the United Nations and re-
gional organizations such as the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization can, in ap-
propriate cases, advance world peace,
strengthen the national security of the
United States, and foster more equitable
burden-sharing with friends and allies of
the United States in military, political,
and financial terms.
(7) A return to the ‘‘hollow forces’’ of
the 1970s has already begun. At the end
of fiscal year 1994, one-third of the units
in the Army contingency force and all of
the forward-deployed and follow-on Army
divisions were reporting a reduced state
of military readiness. During fiscal year
1994, training readiness declined for the
Navy’s Atlantic and Pacific fleets. Fund-
ing shortfalls for that fiscal year resulted
in a grounding of Navy and Marine Corps
aircraft squadrons and cancellation and
curtailment of Army training exercises.
Marine and naval personnel are not
maintaining the standard 12- to 18-month
respite between six-month deployments
away from home. Marine Corps units are
spending up to two of their first four
years away from their base camps. The
significantly increased pace of Depart-
ment of Defense operations has United
States forces over deployed.
(8) As of January 1, 1995, military pay
is approximately 12.8 percent below com-
parable civilian levels. As a result, it is
estimated that close to 17,000 junior en-
listed personnel have to rely on food
stamps and the Department of Defense
will soon begin providing supplementary
food benefits to an estimated 11,000 mili-
tary personnel and dependents living
overseas.
(9) Defense modernization programs
to maintain the battlefield technology
edge of the United States over other na-
tions are being delayed or canceled in an
attempt to prevent the further erosion of
military force readiness.
(10) The centerpiece of the Adminis-
tration’s defense strategy, the Bottom Up
Review, reduces Navy ships by one-third,
Air Force wings by almost one-half, and
funding for missile defenses by over 50
percent, and the General Accounting Of-
fice has reported that even the restrictive
Bottom Up Review could be underfunded
by $150,000,000,000.
(11) The Administration has initially
agreed to or proposed treaty limitations,
or has unilaterally adopted positions,
that prohibit the United States from test-
ing or deploying effective missile defense
systems.
SEC. 102. POLICY.
The Congress is committed to providing
adequate resources to protect the national se-
curity interests of the United States.
SEC. 103. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to establish a commission to reas-
sess United States military needs and re-
verse the continuing downward spiral of
defense spending;
(2) to commit the United States to ac-
celerate the development and deployment
of theater and national ballistic missile
defense capabilities;
(3) to restrict deployment of United
States forces to missions that are in the
national security interest of the United
States;
(4) to maintain command and control
by United States personnel of United
States forces participating in United Na-
tions peacekeeping operations;
(5) to reduce the cost to the United
States of United Nations peacekeeping
activities and to press for reforms in the
United Nations management practices;
and
(6) to reemphasize the commitment of
the United States to a strong and viable
North Atlantic Treaty Organization.