No Unconstitutional War Against North Korea Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6639 To prevent an unconstitutional war against North Korea. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 28, 2020 Mr. KHANNA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Foreign Affairs, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To prevent an unconstitutional war against North Korea. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Unconstitutional 4 War Against North Korea Act of 2020’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress makes the following findings: 7 (1) The President is currently prohibited from 8 initiating a war or launching a first strike without 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 May 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6639.IH H6639 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6639 IH congressional approval under the United States Con- 1 stitution and United States law. 2 (2) The Constitution, in article I, section 8, 3 grants Congress the sole power to declare war. 4 (3) George Washington, in a letter to William 5 Moultrie dated August 28, 1793, wrote, ‘‘The con- 6 stitution vests the power of declaring war in Con- 7 gress; therefore no offensive expedition of impor- 8 tance can be undertaken until after they shall have 9 deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a 10 measure.’’. 11 (4) In Examination Number 1 of the Hamilton 12 Papers, dated December 17, 1801, Alexander Ham- 13 ilton wrote, ‘‘The Congress shall have the power to 14 declare war; the plain meaning of which is, that it 15 is the peculiar and exclusive duty of Congress, when 16 the nation is at peace, to change that state into a 17 state of war.’’. 18 (5) James Madison wrote, in Madison Papers, 19 Helvidius, Number 4, dated September 14, 1793, 20 ‘‘The power to declare war, including the power of 21 judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively 22 vested in the legislature . . . the executive has no 23 right, in any case, to decide the question, whether 24 there is or is not cause for declaring war.’’. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 May 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6639.IH H6639 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6639 IH (6) Section 2(c) of the War Powers Resolution 1 (50 U.S.C. 1541(c)) states that ‘‘the constitutional 2 powers of the President as Commander-in-Chief to 3 introduce United States Armed Forces into hos- 4 tilities, or into situations where imminent involve- 5 ment in hostilities is clearly indicated by the cir- 6 cumstances, are exercised only pursuant to (1) a 7 declaration of war, (2) specific statutory authoriza- 8 tion, or (3) a national emergency created by attack 9 upon the United States, its territories or posses- 10 sions, or its armed forces’’. 11 (7) On April 12, 2018, then-Director of the 12 Central Intelligence Agency, Mike Pompeo, testified 13 before the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 14 Senate that he believed the President had the au- 15 thority to send U.S. military forces into action even 16 if none of the qualifications of section 2(c) of the 17 War Powers Resolution are met. 18 (8) On February 13, 2020, a bipartisan major- 19 ity in the Senate directed the President to remove 20 Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran or any 21 part of its government or military, unless otherwise 22 explicitly authorized by Congress, following passage 23 of a similar measure in the House of Representa- 24 tives on January 9, 2020. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 May 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6639.IH H6639 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6639 IH (9) The United States has approximately 1 28,500 members of the Armed Forces stationed in 2 Korea, and over 100,000 United States citizens in 3 total, all of whom would be placed in grave danger 4 if an active military conflict on the Korean Penin- 5 sula were to erupt. 6 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON UNCONSTITUTIONAL MILITARY 7 STRIKES AGAINST NORTH KOREA. 8 (a) PROHIBITION OF AUTHORIZED MILITARY FORCE 9 IN OR AGAINST NORTH KOREA.—Except as provided in 10 subsection (b), no Federal funds may be obligated or ex- 11 pended for any use of military force in or against North 12 Korea unless Congress has— 13 (1) declared war; or 14 (2) enacted specific statutory authorization for 15 such use of military force after the date of the en- 16 actment of this Act that meets the requirements of 17 the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1541 et 18 seq.). 19 (b) EXCEPTION.—The prohibition under subsection 20 (a) shall not apply to a use of military force that is con- 21 sistent with section 2(c) of the War Powers Resolution. 22 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 23 tion may be construed— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 May 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6639.IH H6639 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6639 IH (1) to prevent the President from using nec- 1 essary and appropriate force to defend United States 2 allies and partners if Congress enacts specific statu- 3 tory authorization for such use of force consistent 4 with the requirements of the War Powers Resolution 5 (50 U.S.C. 1541 et seq.); 6 (2) to relieve the executive branch of restric- 7 tions on the use of force, reporting, or consultation 8 requirements set forth in the War Powers Resolution 9 (50 U.S.C. 1541 et seq.); or 10 (3) to authorize the use of military force. 11 SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS IN SUPPORT OF DIPLOMATIC 12 RESOLUTION TO GROWING TENSIONS WITH 13 NORTH KOREA. 14 It is the sense of Congress that— 15 (1) a conflict on the Korean peninsula would 16 have catastrophic consequences for the American 17 people, for members of the United States Armed 18 Forces stationed in the region, for United States in- 19 terests, for United States allies the Republic of 20 Korea and Japan, for the long-suffering people of 21 North Korea, and for global peace and security more 22 broadly, and that actions and statements that in- 23 crease tensions and could lead to miscalculation 24 should be avoided; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 May 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6639.IH H6639 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6639 IH (2) the President, in coordination with United 1 States allies, should explore and pursue every fea- 2 sible opportunity to engage in talks with the Govern- 3 ment of North Korea on concrete steps to reduce 4 tensions and improve communication, and to reinvig- 5 orate high-level negotiations aimed at achieving a 6 diplomatic agreement consistent with the June 12, 7 2018, Joint Statement of President Donald J. 8 Trump of the United States of America and Chair- 9 man Kim Jong Un of the Democratic People’s Re- 10 public of Korea at the Singapore Summit. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:40 May 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6639.IH H6639 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS