[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 40 Introduced in House (IH)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 40

Expressing the sense of Congress that the President is prohibited under 
  the Constitution from initiating war against Syria without express 
  congressional authorization and the appropriation of funds for the 
                 express purpose of waging such a war.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 20, 2013

  Mr. Jones submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
  referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the 
     Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the President is prohibited under 
  the Constitution from initiating war against Syria without express 
  congressional authorization and the appropriation of funds for the 
                 express purpose of waging such a war.

Whereas the Constitution's makers entrusted decisions to initiate offensive 
        warfare not in self-defense exclusively to Congress in article I, 
        section 8, clause 11;
Whereas the Constitution's makers knew that the Executive Branch would be prone 
        to manufacture danger and to deceive Congress and the United States 
        people to justify gratuitous wars to aggrandize executive power;
Whereas chronic wars are irreconcilable with liberty, a separation of powers, 
        and the rule of law;
Whereas the entry of the United States Armed Forces into the ongoing war in 
        Syria to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad would make the United 
        States less safe by awakening new enemies;
Whereas the fate of Syria is irrelevant to the security and welfare of the 
        United States and its citizens and is not worth risking the life of a 
        single member of the United States Armed Forces;
Whereas humanitarian wars are a contradiction in terms and characteristically 
        lead to semi-anarchy and chaos, as in Somalia and Libya;
Whereas if victorious, the hydra-headed Syrian insurgency would suppress the 
        Christian population or other minorities as has been similarly witnessed 
        in Iraq with its Shiite-dominated government; and
Whereas United States military aid to the Syrian insurgents risks blowback 
        indistinguishable from the military assistance provided to the 
        splintered Afghan mujahideen in Afghanistan to oppose the Soviet Union 
        and culminated in the 9/11 abominations: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That it is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the President is prohibited under the Constitution from 
        the offensive use of the United States Armed Forces in Syria 
        without prior express authorization by an Act of Congress or 
        without a prior express appropriation of funds for that purpose 
        by an Act of Congress; and
            (2) the President's defiance of those constitutional 
        limitations on his authority to initiate war would constitute 
        an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor under article II, 
        section 4 of the Constitution.
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