Text of Senate Amendment 6351

On 2026-06-24, Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) delivered a floor speech titled "Text Of Senate Amendment 6351" in the Senate.

Text of Senate Amendment 6351

Congressional Record, Volume 172 Issue 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026) [Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 106 (Wednesday, June 24, 2026)] [Senate] [Pages S3475-S3476] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] SA 6351. Mr. FETTERMAN submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by him to the bill S. 4784, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2027 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows: At the end of subtitle B of title III, add the following: SEC. 320C. PILOT PROGRAM TO PROVIDE INTEGRATED CONNECTIVITY SERVICE. (a) Establishment.--The Secretary of Defense, acting through the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment, shall establish and carry out a pilot program (in this section referred to as the ``pilot program'') to provide integrated connectivity service to a covered population-- (1) stationed at five covered military installations, as determined by the Secretary; and (2) at no cost to such covered population. (b) Program Requirements.-- (1) Service provisioning and ensuring.--To carry out the pilot program, the Assistant Secretary shall enter into a contract with an American contracted entity to act as telecommunications operator for the covered military installation-- (A) to provide the integrated connectivity service with a private network management system or a hybrid-capable network management system; (B) to ensure the integrated connectivity service can support multiple tenant commands, or activity present on such covered military installations with individualized commitments, such as separate network slices and security policies that can be tailored to the tenant command requirements; and (C) to provide and ensure operation of the integrated connectivity service. (2) Integrated connectivity service requirement.--The integrated connectivity service provided under the pilot program shall-- (A) provide broadband internet access service as the baseline service and meet or exceed any speed benchmarks established by the Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission for broadband internet access services, including-- (i) a minimum download speed of 100-Mbps; and (ii) a minimum upload speed of 20-Mbps; and (B) support the integration of P5G data services with broadband internet access service over a common integrated connectivity service, where such mobile services are identified as required by the tenant command of the covered military installation. (3) Goods procured under contract.--Any goods procured under the contract described under paragraph (1) shall be the property of the Department of Defense. (4) Standard.--Infrastructure setup and operation of the integrated connectivity service shall-- (A) be based on National Institute of Standards and Technology standards specified in Special Publication 800-171 Revision 3, or successor standards, including any future revisions, updates, or successor publications to ensure the availability and security of such integrated connectivity service; and (B) exclude hybrid-capable network management systems with availability and security risks, such as pure public cloud only network management systems. (5) Cost.--In carrying out the pilot program, the Assistant Secretary shall account for the full lifecycle costs of such pilot program, including-- (A) the initial build and setup; (B) a refresh, every five years during the period the authority to carry out the pilot program is effective, of the integrated connectivity service, including a refresh of the underlying infrastructure of the entire integrated connectivity service, to ensure long-term-- (i) availability; (ii) security; and (iii) usability; and (C) monthly recurring costs, including services provided by-- (i) the host nation carrier for bandwidth; and (ii) the telecommunications operator. (6) Methodology.--When carrying out the pilot program, the Assistant Secretary shall use industry standard lifecycle methodologies and broadly adopted practices, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework, Special Publication 800-53, Information Technology infrastructure library and the Plan, Prepare, Design, Implement, Operate, Optimize methodology to deliver a cost- effective, secure, sustainable, right-sized network infrastructure. (7) Equipment procurement.--Notwithstanding section 8302(a)(2)(A) of title 41, United States Code, for the purpose of providing integrated connectivity service, as described under paragraph (1), the American contracted entity shall procure any necessary articles, materials, or supplies in the United States pursuant to section 8302 of title 41, United States Code. (c) Report.--Not later than five years after the date of the enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the Assistant Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on the pilot program, including-- (1) an analysis of the cost; and (2) a determination of which additional military installations located outside the contiguous United States should be provided with integrated connectivity service. (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $15,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2032. (e) Definitions.--In this section: (1) The term ``5G'' means fifth generation mobile network technology, including higher-speed and lower latency device connectivity over mobile radio networks. (2) The term ``Assistant Secretary'' means the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment. (3) The term ``American contracted entity'' means an entity-- (A) organized in the United States and with its principal place of business located within the United States; (B) majority-owned and controlled by a United States citizen, a lawful permanent resident, or publicly traded on a United States stock exchange and subject to United States laws and jurisdiction; (C) that employs primarily personnel based in the United States to perform management, engineering, operations, and customer support functions, including staffing key operational and decision-making roles within the United States; (D) that procures equipment and technology through a supply chain compliant with sections 889 and 1260H of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (Public Law 116-283), including the avoidance of prohibited or restricted telecommunications and video surveillance equipment and services; and (E) that complies with section 8302 of title 41, United States Code, whenever practicable, prioritizing United States manufactured products, United States sourced components, and United States based subcontractors and suppliers wherever and whenever possible, consistent with project requirements, availability, and cost reasonableness. (4) The term ``broadband internet access service'' has the meaning given such term in section 8.1(b), title 47, Code of Federal Regulations, or any successor regulation. (5) The term ``cloud only deployment model'' means a deployment model in which the network management system is delivered solely as a vendor-managed software-as-a-service offering, with no option for self-hosted, on-premises, or private cloud deployment. (6) The term ``covered military installation'' means a military installation as defined in section 2801 of title 10, United States Code, under the jurisdiction of the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Air Force, or the Secretary of the Navy and located in the Middle East. (7) The term ``covered population'' means active duty members of the Armed Forces, as defined in section 101(d)(1) of title 10, United States Code, but may be expanded to include employees of a Defense Agency as defined in section 101(a)(11) of title 10, United States Code, by the tenant command of a covered military installation through the telecommunications officer of the covered military installation. (8) The term ``host nation carrier'' means a telecommunications provider that is-- (A) licensed or authorized to operate in the foreign nation in which the covered military installation is located; and (B) provides broadband internet access, data, or mobile communication services within the foreign nation. (9) The term ``hybrid-capable network management system'' means a common architectural framework that supports both broadband internet access service and private or hybrid public and P5G mobile connectivity services, as required and is not limited to a public only deployment model or a cloud only deployment model. (10) The term ``integrated connectivity service'' means a fixed, high-speed broadband internet access service, and may include private or hybrid mobile connectivity, including P5G, as required by the Secretary of Defense to meet operational requirements. (11) The term ``Mbps'' means one million bits per second. (12) The term ``P5G'' means a private mobile network service using 5G mobile network technology and available only to members of the Armed Forces stationed on covered military installations participating in the pilot program. (13) The term ``private network management system'' means a network management system that is-- [[Page S3476]] (A) compliant with the requirements for a cyber security maturity model certification; and (B) not cloud-based. (14) The term ``public only deployment model'' means a deployment model in which the network management system is hosted exclusively in a third-party public cloud environment, including AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, and cannot be deployed or operated on customer-owned or on-premises infrastructure. (15) The term ``pure public cloud only network management system'' means a network management platform