[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 27 (Monday, February 12, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S959]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 28--EXPRESSING THE SENSE OF CONGRESS 
    REGARDING THE AUTHORITY OF THE PRESIDENT TO USE APPROPRIATE AND 
 NECESSARY FORCE TO LIBERATE UNITED STATES CITIZENS BEING HELD BY HAMAS

  Mr. SCOTT of South Carolina (for himself and Mr. Wicker) submitted 
the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations:

                            S. Con. Res. 28

       Whereas Hamas, an Iranian-backed terrorist organization, 
     carried out a coordinated series of surprise terrorist 
     attacks against Israel on October 7, 2023;
       Whereas, during the attacks of October 7, 2023, Hamas 
     brutally claimed the lives of more than 1,200 Israelis and 
     foreign nationals, including 35 United States citizens;
       Whereas, during the attacks of October 7, 2023, Hamas took 
     an estimated 240 Israelis and foreign nationals hostage;
       Whereas, after a temporary pause in hostilities in November 
     2023, during which some hostages were released in exchange 
     for the release of Palestinian prisoners, Hamas continues to 
     hold approximately 130 people hostage in Gaza, including 6 
     United States citizens;
       Whereas the hostages who were released from Gaza in 
     November 2023 have provided harrowing reports of the 
     brutality they faced at the hands of Hamas terrorists, 
     including starvation, sexual assault, and other forms of 
     torture;
       Whereas Presidential Policy Directive 30, issued on June 
     24, 2015, states, ``The United States will use every 
     appropriate resource to gain the safe return of U.S. 
     nationals who are held hostage. But the United States 
     Government will make no concessions to individuals or groups 
     holding U.S. nationals hostage.'';
       Whereas article II of the Constitution of the United States 
     empowers the President, as Commander-in-Chief, to direct the 
     use of military force in self-defense, including the defense 
     of United States citizens;
       Whereas section 2(c) of the War Powers Resolution (50 
     U.S.C. 1541(c)) further states that the article II powers of 
     the President, as Commander-in-Chief, to introduce the Armed 
     Forces into situations of hostilities or imminent hostilities 
     can be exercised in the event of ``national emergency created 
     by attack upon the United States, its territories or 
     possessions, or its armed forces.'';
       Whereas Executive Order No. 14078 (relating to bolstering 
     efforts to bring hostages and wrongfully detained United 
     States nationals home), issued on July 19, 2022, declared a 
     national emergency to address the ``unusual and extraordinary 
     threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy 
     of the United States'' posed by the wrongful detention and 
     hostage-taking of United States citizens and other persons 
     abroad; and
       Whereas, since 1980, the United States has utilized 
     military force at least ten times for the rescue or attempted 
     rescue of United States citizens and other persons held 
     hostage overseas: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives 
     concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--
       (1) the act by Hamas of taking United States citizens 
     hostage on October 7, 2023, constitutes an attack on the 
     United States and its citizens;
       (2) the President has the authority under article II of the 
     Constitution of the United States to use appropriate and 
     necessary force to liberate United States citizens being held 
     hostage by Hamas; and
       (3) such authority should be utilized.

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