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 news release
from
BARNEY FRANK
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Peter Kovar (202) 225-5931
Dorothy Reichard (617) 332-3920
May 16, 1996
FRANK AMENDMENT TO SAVE U.S. BILLIONS IN
MILITARY SPENDING ABROAD PASSED AS PART OF
THE 1997 NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT
Last night, the House of Representatives gave final approval to an amendment sponsored by
Representatives Barney Frank,
Christopher Shays (R-CT), Richard Gephardt (D-MO), Fred Upton (R-MI), Ron Dellums (D-CA),
Bill Martini (R-NJ), and Elizabeth Furse (D-OR) which will increase financial support from
America's allies for the cost of the foreign U.S. military presence. The amendment is
estimated to save $11.5 billion or more over the next six years and was overwhelmingly
approved yesterday by a 353-62 margin. The entire authorization bill, including the
amendment, is expected to be passed today by the House.
"I am delighted that the House passed this amendment by such an impressive,
bipartisan margin," Frank said. "Along with the active support of the House
Democratic Leadership and the Democratic leaders of the House National Security Committee,
and the agreement of the Department of Defense and the Department of State, this year's
extraordinary support demonstrates the importance of requiring our wealthy allies to pay
their fair share of common defense costs and ending the defense subsidy that American
taxpayers give to the wealthy nations of Western Europe and the Pacific."
"During the Cold War, it made sense for America to provide a lion's share of this
assistance," Frank said, "but with the Soviet threat having evaporated, there is
no longer any good reason for us to bear the majority of costs of defending our allies.
Beyond that, the amendment is an important way of reducing the deficit at time when
everybody recognizes the need to curb unnecessary federal spending. I will be working with
Congressman Shays and the House Democratic Leadership to press the Senate to adopt this
amendment when it takes up the authorization bill later this month."
Under this bipartisan "burdensharing" amendment, which was passed as part of the
1997 Department of Defense authorization bill, U.S. allies are called upon to increase
their contribution to the cost of the American overseas military presence. The increase in
the amount of contribution could be calculated by several methods, including the amount
they contribute to the non-personnel costs of stationing U.S. troops overseas; the
percentage of their Gross Domestic Product
devoted to military spending; or increased contributions of military assets to
multilateral military activities, such as United Nations sponsored peace-keeping missions.
If our allies fail to make adequate increases, the President is empowered to take various
punitive actions against the relevant countries, including reducing the number of troops
stationed there or rescinding foreign aid.
A similar Frank-Shays amendment, which only required an increase in contributions by our
European allies to the nonpersonnel costs incurred by U.S. military forces stationed
there, was approved in the House by a smaller margin last year, but the Senate did not
pass it, and, in its final form, the legislation was watered down to a non-binding
requirement urging the President to seek greater contributions to the cost of maintaining
U.S. troops stationed in Europe. As a result of that legislation, there has been a 1
percent increase in overall European contributions.
Frank noted that he will vote against the authorization bill today on final passage,
despite the inclusion of his amendment, because he believes the overall funding level
contained in the bill is still too high given the collapse of the Soviet threat and the
overwhelming superiority of America's military to that of any other nation.
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