[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 233 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 233

    To prohibit the use of funds for an escalation of United States 
  military forces in Iraq above the numbers existing as of January 9, 
                                 2007.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            January 9, 2007

   Mr. Kennedy (for himself, Mr. Leahy, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Sanders, Mr. 
 Harkin, and Mr. Kerry) introduced the following bill; which was read 
        twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To prohibit the use of funds for an escalation of United States 
  military forces in Iraq above the numbers existing as of January 9, 
                                 2007.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR ESCALATION OF UNITED STATES 
              MILITARY FORCES IN IRAQ.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Congress, the representatives of the American people, 
        should vote before any additional United States military forces 
        are sent to Iraq.
            (2) The Authorization for Use of Military Force Against 
        Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243) authorized a war 
        against the regime of Saddam Hussein because he was believed to 
        have weapons of mass destruction and to have an operational 
        relationship with Al Qaeda and because he was in defiance of 
        United Nations Security Council Resolutions.
            (3) The mission of the Armed Forces of the United States 
        today in Iraq no longer bears any resemblance to the mission of 
        the Armed Forces authorized by Congress in the Authorization 
        for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002.
            (4) Iraq has descended into civil war, and sectarian 
        violence continues to escalate.
            (5) On March 5, 2006, General Nash said ``[w]e're in a 
        civil war now; it's just that not everybody's joined in''.
            (6) On December 3, 2006, United Nations Secretary General 
        Kofi Annan said ``[w]hen we had the strife in Lebanon and other 
        places, we called that a civil war--this is much worse''.
            (7) On December 17, 2006, former Secretary of State Colin 
        Powell said ``I am not persuaded that another surge of troops 
        into Baghdad for the purposes of suppressing this communitarian 
        violence, this civil war, will work''.
            (8) A political solution is required in Iraq, not a 
        military solution.
            (9) The open-ended commitment of the Armed Forces continues 
        to enable the Iraqis to avoid taking responsibility for their 
        own future. Tens of thousands of additional United States 
        troops will only serve to make the Iraqis more dependent on the 
        United States, not less.
            (10) On November 15, 2006, General Abizaid was unequivocal 
        that increasing our troop commitment is not the answer in Iraq, 
        saying ``I've met with every divisional commander. General 
        Casey, the corps commander, General Dempsey--we all talked 
        together. And I said, `In your professional opinion, if we were 
        to bring in more American troops now, does it add considerably 
        to our ability to achieve success in Iraq?' And they all said 
        no''.
            (11) On December 29, 2006, General Casey said ``[t]he 
        longer we in the United States forces continue to bear the main 
        burden of Iraq's security, it lengthens the time that the 
        government of Iraq has to make the hard decisions about 
        reconciliation and dealing with the militias ... . They can 
        continue to blame us for all of Iraq's problems, which are at 
        base their problems''.
            (12) More than 3,000 United States troops have died in 
        Iraq, and more than 22,000 have been wounded.
            (13) President George W. Bush should not be permitted to 
        increase the number of United States troops in harm's way in 
        the civil war in Iraq without a new authorization from Congress 
        that reflects the reality of the changed circumstances on the 
        ground in Iraq.
    (b) Prohibition.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no 
Federal funds may be obligated or expended by the United States 
Government to increase the number of United States military forces in 
Iraq above the number for such forces which existed as of January 9, 
2007, without a specific authorization of Congress by law for such an 
increase.
                                 <all>