[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S.J. Res. 51 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. J. RES. 51

Directing the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities in 
            Syria that have not been authorized by Congress.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 15, 2023

  Mr. Paul introduced the following joint resolution; which was read 
        twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                            JOINT RESOLUTION


 
Directing the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities in 
            Syria that have not been authorized by Congress.

    Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United 
States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Congress has the sole power to declare war under the 
        War Powers Clause of section 8 of article I of the Constitution 
        of the United States.
            (2) There are 900 members of the United States Armed Forces 
        deployed in Syria.
            (3) Congress has not declared war against Syria or any 
        organization or group in Syria.
            (4) The Authorization for Use of Military Force (Public Law 
        107-40; 50 U.S.C. 1541 note) against the perpetrators of the 
        terror attacks on September 11, 2001, which was enacted on 
        September 18, 2001, and the Authorization for Use of Military 
        Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002 (Public Law 107-243; 50 
        U.S.C. 1541 note), which was enacted on October 16, 2002, do 
        not serve as specific statutory authorizations for the use of 
        force against Syria.
            (5) United States military operations in Syria began on 
        September 22, 2014, more than 13 years after the September 11, 
        2001, terrorist attacks, with Operation Inherent Resolve 
        targeting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
            (6) Since September 22, 2014, the United States Armed 
        Forces have been introduced into hostilities in Syria, against 
        both State and non-state actors.
            (7) The United States Armed Forces in Syria have targeted 
        numerous entities, including the Syrian Armed Forces and pro-
        Syrian government forces, terrorist organizations, including 
        ISIS, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iranian-backed 
        militias, the Russian-backed Wagner Group, and the armed forces 
        of Turkey.
            (8) On October 30, 2015, the administration of President 
        Barack Obama deployed members of the United States Armed 
        Forces, announcing that up to 50 special operations forces 
        would be deployed to Syria.
            (9) On April 25, 2016, the Obama administration announced 
        that an additional 250 special operations forces would be 
        deployed to Syria.
            (10) On December 6, 2017, the Secretary of Defense revealed 
        that there were approximately 2,000 members of the United 
        States Armed Forces deployed in Syria.
            (11) Since 2016, United States Armed Forces have targeted 
        personnel, platforms, and facilities of the Syrian Armed Forces 
        or forces allied with the Government of Syria on at least 11 
        occasions, including on April 7, 2017, when United States Armed 
        Forces fired 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Shayrat Airbase 
        controlled by the Syrian Government. Syrian Government 
        officials indicated the strike killed 16 people, including 7 
        military personnel.
            (12) On February 7, 2018, members of the United States 
        Armed Forces in Syria killed hundreds of Russian citizens who 
        were members of the Russian-backed Wagner Group.
            (13) On April 12, 2018, Director of the Central 
        Intelligence Agency Mike Pompeo told the Committee on Foreign 
        Relations of the Senate, ``In Syria, now, a handful of weeks 
        ago, the Russians met their match. A couple hundred Russians 
        were killed.''.
            (14) On December 19, 2018, President Donald J. Trump 
        ordered the withdrawal of all United States Armed Forces from 
        Syria, a policy that was not implemented, as 900 members of the 
        United States Armed Forces remain in Syria.
            (15) On February 28, 2019, President Trump declared that 
        100 percent of the Islamic State caliphate had been defeated, 
        therefore achieving the objective of Operation Inherent 
        Resolve.
            (16) On October 11, 2019, the Secretary of Defense reported 
        that members of the United States Armed Forces in northern 
        Syria came under artillery fire from Turkish Armed Forces.
            (17) Former United States Special Presidential Envoy for 
        the anti-ISIS coalition Brett McGurk stated, ``Turkish forces 
        have fired on a declared United States military outpost in 
        northern Syria. Turkey knows all of our locations down to the 
        precise grid coordinate.''.
            (18) On July 11, 2019, Presidential candidate Joseph R. 
        Biden, Jr., promised to ``end forever wars in Afghanistan and 
        the Middle East'' and stated that ``Staying entrenched in 
        unwinnable conflicts only drains our capacity to lead on other 
        issues that require our attention.''
            (19) On October 6, 2019, President Trump ordered the 
        withdrawal of United States Armed Forces from northern Syria.
            (20) United States Armed Forces in Syria are regularly 
        attacked by Iranian-backed militias, resulting in casualties.
            (21) On February 25, 2021, President Joseph R. Biden, Jr., 
        ordered the United States Armed Forces to carry out airstrikes 
        in eastern Syria against facilities used by Iran-backed 
        militias in response to attacks against United States and 
        allied personnel in Iraq that killed a Filipino contractor and 
        injured a National Guardsmen and 4 United States contractors.
            (22) On June 27, 2021, President Biden ordered the United 
        States Armed Forces to carry out airstrikes against Iran-backed 
        militias in Syria in response to drone attacks against United 
        States personnel and facilities in Iraq.
            (23) On August 24, 2022, President Biden ordered the United 
        States Armed Forces to carry out airstrikes against Iran-backed 
        militias in Deir al Zour, Syria, in response to attacks on a 
        United States base in northeastern Syria that injured 3 members 
        of the United States Armed Forces.
            (24) On March 24, 2023, President Biden ordered the United 
        States Armed Forces to carry out airstrikes against Iran-backed 
        militias in Syria in response to an attack in northeast Syria 
        that killed a United States contractor and injured 5 members of 
        the United States Armed Forces and another United States 
        contractor.
            (25) On October 5, 2023, a United States F-16 aircraft shot 
        down an armed Turkish drone operating in northeastern Syria. 
        The drone was reported to have come within 500 yards of members 
        of the United States Armed Forces.
            (26) Since October 17, 2023, United States Armed Forces in 
        Syria and Iraq have been attacked at least 52 times, with 28 
        attacks in Syria and 24 attacks in Iraq. Such attacks resulted 
        in at least 56 members of the United States Armed Forces being 
        injured, of whom at least 25 members have sustained traumatic 
        brain injuries.
            (27) On October 26, 2023, President Biden ordered United 
        States Armed Forces to conduct airstrikes against a weapons 
        storage facility and an ammunition storage facility used by the 
        Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian-backed militias 
        in Abu Kamal, Syria.
            (28) On November 8, 2023, President Biden ordered United 
        States Armed Forces to conduct airstrikes against a weapons 
        storage facility used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps 
        and Iranian-backed militias in Maysalun, Syria.
            (29) On November 12, 2023, President Biden ordered United 
        States Armed Forces to conduct airstrikes against a training 
        facility and a safe house used by the Islamic Revolutionary 
        Guard Corps and Iranian-backed militias in Abu Kamal and 
        Mayadin, Syria.
            (30) Nine members of the United States Armed Forces have 
        been killed in Syria since the commencement of Operation 
        Inherent Resolve: Staff Sergeant Austin Bieren, Senior Chief 
        Petty Officer Scott Dayton, Master Sergeant Jonathan Dunbar, 
        Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jonathan Farmer, Senior Chief Petty 
        Office Shannon Kent, Specialist Antonio Moore, Sgt. Bryan 
        Mount, Specialist Etienne Murphy, and Private First Class 
        Michael Thomason.
            (31) The 900 members of the United States Armed Forces 
        deployed in Syria face significant risk, as is evidenced by 
        regularly occurring attacks, and an imminent threat of wider 
        hostilities involving such members of the United States Armed 
        Forces in Syria.
            (32) Section 8(c) of the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 
        1547(c)) defines the ``introduction of United States Armed 
        Forces'' to include ``the assignment of members of such Armed 
        Forces to command, coordinate, participate in the movement of, 
        or accompany the regular or irregular military forces of any 
        foreign country or government when such military forces are 
        engaged, or there exists an imminent threat that such forces 
        will become engaged, in hostilities''. Activities that the 
        United States Armed Forces have conducted in Syria fall within 
        such definition, as is evidenced by United States support of 
        the People's Protection Units (YPG), the Syrian Democratic 
        Forces (SDF), the Free Syrian Army (FSA), and other regular and 
        irregular military forces in Syria.
            (33) The United States Armed Forces have been introduced 
        into active or imminent hostilities within the meaning of 
        section 4(a) of the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1543(a)). 
        Activities that the United States Armed Forces have conducted 
        in Syria fall within such meaning, as evidenced by strikes on 
        the Syrian Armed Forces, pro-Syrian government forces, various 
        terrorist organizations, including ISIS, the Islamic 
        Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iranian-backed militias, the 
        Russian-backed Wagner Group, and the Armed Forces of Turkey.
            (34) Section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 
        1544(c)) states, ``at any time that United States Armed Forces 
        are engaged in hostilities outside the territory of the United 
        States, its possessions and territories without a declaration 
        of war or specific statutory authorization, such forces shall 
        be removed by the President if the Congress so directs''.
            (35) Section 1013 of the Department of State Authorization 
        Act, Fiscal Years 1984 and 1985 (50 U.S.C. 1546a) provides, 
        ``Any joint resolution or bill [to require] the removal of 
        United States Armed Forces engaged in hostilities . . . without 
        a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization shall 
        be considered in accordance with the procedures of section 
        601(b) of the International Security Assistance and Arms Export 
        Control Act of 1976''(Public Law 94-329; 90 Stat. 765).

SEC. 2. REMOVAL OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES FROM HOSTILITIES IN SYRIA 
              THAT HAVE NOT BEEN AUTHORIZED BY CONGRESS.

    Pursuant to section 1013 of the Department of State Authorization 
Act, Fiscal Years 1984 and 1985 (50 U.S.C. 1546a), and in accordance 
with the provisions of section 601(b) of the International Security 
Assistance and Arms Export Control Act of 1976 (Public Law 94-329; 90 
Stat. 765), Congress hereby directs the President to remove United 
States Armed Forces from hostilities in or affecting Syria by not later 
than the date that is 30 days after the date of the adoption of this 
joint resolution (unless the President requests and Congress authorizes 
a later date), and unless and until a declaration of war or specific 
authorization for such use of United States Armed Forces has been 
enacted.

SEC. 3. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION REGARDING AUTHORIZATIONS FOR USE OF 
              MILITARY FORCE.

    Consistent with section 8(a)(1) of the War Powers Resolution (50 
U.S.C. 1547(a)(1)), nothing in this joint resolution may be construed 
as authorizing the use of military force.
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