FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Caroline Tabler or James Arnold (202) 224-2353
April 22, 2020
Cotton FORCE Act Surges $43 Billion to Thwart Chinese Military Aspirations in Indo-Pacific
Washington, D.C. — Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) has introduced a bill that would dramatically increase investment—$43 billion in total—for military infrastructure, weapons, and other assets in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Forging Operational Resistance to Chinese Expansion (FORCE) Act is a critical investment in the United States’ ability to compete with China. The bill will help thwart the Chinese Communist Party’s main geopolitical aim in the wake of the China virus: pushing the United States out of the Western Pacific, intimidating its neighbors, and achieving cross-strait unification with Taiwan via military force.
The bill also shields the U.S. defense-industrial base—especially small suppliers and manufacturers—from the China virus’s economic fallout.
A summary of the bill may be found here. Bill text may be found here.
“The Chinese Communist Party will try to exploit the world’s weakness in the wake of a virus it unleashed. We cannot allow it to succeed. The FORCE Act will greatly strengthen the United States’ position in the Indo-Pacific, allowing us to block China’s goals of regional dominance, and ultimately, competition with the United States,” said Cotton.
FORCE Act Highlights:
—$6.1 billion to regain the advantage in the Indo-Pacific region
—$9.2 billion in capability increases for great power competition
—$11.0 billion for mitigating coronavirus impacts to procurement programs
—$3.3 billion for mitigating coronavirus impacts to defense industrial base
—$1.5 billion for hospital ship recapitalization
—$12.0 billion to enhance national resilience and critical infrastructure
Click here for a complete bill summary. Click here for full bill text.
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