Directing the President pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Syrian Arab Republic that have not been authorized by Congress.

IV 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 77 Directing the President pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Syrian Arab Republic that have not been authorized by Congress. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 21, 2019 Ms. GABBARD submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Directing the President pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Syrian Arab Republic that have not been authorized by Congress. Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 1 concurring), 2 SECTION 1. REMOVAL OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES 3 FROM HOSTILITIES IN THE SYRIAN ARAB RE- 4 PUBLIC THAT HAVE NOT BEEN AUTHORIZED 5 BY CONGRESS. 6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HC77.IH HC77 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HCON 77 IH (1) Congress has the sole power to declare war 1 under article I, section 8 of the Constitution. 2 (2) Congress has not declared war with respect 3 to, or provided any specific statutory authorization 4 for, United States military participation in any ac- 5 tivity related to securing, guarding, possessing, prof- 6 iting off of, or developing the oil fields of the Syrian 7 Arab Republic. 8 (3) President Donald Trump stated on October 9 27, 2019, regarding Syria that ‘‘we are leaving sol- 10 diers to secure the oil. Now, we may have to fight 11 for the oil. That’s OK. Maybe somebody else wants 12 the oil, in which case they have a hell of a fight.’’ 13 and that ‘‘it can help us, because we should be able 14 to take some also. And what I intend to do, perhaps, 15 is make a deal with an ExxonMobil or one of our 16 great companies to go in there and do it properly. 17 Right now it’s not big. It’s big oil underground but 18 it’s not big oil up top.’’. 19 (4) When asked by CNN on October 28, 2019, 20 whether the United States will prevent any Russian 21 or Syrian Government forces from gaining access to 22 the oil, Secretary of Defense Esper said, ‘‘The short 23 answer is yes, it presently does.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HC77.IH HC77 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HCON 77 IH (5) Section 8(c) of the War Powers Resolution 1 (50 U.S.C. 1547(c)) defines the introduction of 2 United States Armed Forces to include ‘‘the assign- 3 ment of members of such armed forces to command, 4 coordinate, participate in the movement of, or ac- 5 company the regular or irregular military forces of 6 any foreign country or government when such mili- 7 tary forces are engaged, or there exists an imminent 8 threat that such forces will become engaged, in hos- 9 tilities.’’. 10 (6) Section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution 11 (50 U.S.C. 1544(c)) states that ‘‘at any time that 12 United States Armed Forces are engaged in hos- 13 tilities outside the territory of the United States, its 14 possessions and territories without a declaration of 15 war or specific statutory authorization, such forces 16 shall be removed by the President if the Congress so 17 directs’’. 18 (b) REMOVAL OF ARMED FORCES.—Pursuant to sec- 19 tion 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 20 1544(c)), Congress hereby directs the President to remove 21 United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Syrian 22 Arab Republic, except for United States Armed Forces en- 23 gaged in operations directed at al Qaeda or associated 24 forces, not later than 60 days after the date of the adop- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HC77.IH HC77 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HCON 77 IH tion of this concurrent resolution, unless a declaration of 1 war or specific authorization for such use of United States 2 Armed Forces has been enacted into law. 3 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this con- 4 current resolution may be construed— 5 (1) to limit, expand, or otherwise modify the 6 scope of the Authorization for Use of Military Force 7 (Public Law 107–40; 50 U.S.C. 1541 note); or 8 (2) consistent with section 8(a)(1) of the War 9 Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1547(a)(1)), to au- 10 thorize the use of military force. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:42 Nov 22, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HC77.IH HC77 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS