IA
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. J. RES. 89
Requiring the advice and consent of the Senate or an Act of Congress
to suspend, terminate, or withdraw the United States from the North
Atlantic Treaty and authorizing related litigation, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER14, 2023
Ms. M
CCLELLAN(for herself, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. CONNOLLY, Mr. TUR-
NER, Ms. ADAMS, Ms. NORTON, Ms. PORTER, Ms. CROCKETT, Mr.
S
WALWELL, Mr. BOYLEof Pennsylvania, Mr. VEASEY, Mr. PETERS, Mr.
S
CHIFF, Mrs. WATSONCOLEMAN, Mr. COSTA, Mr. GALLEGO, Ms.
S
HERRILL, Mr. ALLRED, Mr. MAGAZINER, Ms. WEXTON, Mrs. KIGGANS
of Virginia, Mr. L
ARSENof Washington, Mr. GREENof Texas, Mr.
M
CCORMICK, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. CLEAVER, Ms. DEANof Pennsylvania,
Ms. S
PANBERGER, and Ms. ROSS) submitted the following joint resolu-
tion; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and in ad-
dition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
JOINT RESOLUTION
Requiring the advice and consent of the Senate or an Act
of Congress to suspend, terminate, or withdraw the
United States from the North Atlantic Treaty and au-
thorizing related litigation, and for other purposes.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives1
of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. OPPOSITION OF CONGRESS TO SUSPENSION, 1
TERMINATION, DENUNCIATION, OR WITH-2
DRAWAL FROM NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY. 3
The President shall not suspend, terminate, de-4
nounce, or withdraw the United States from the North 5
Atlantic Treaty, done at Washington, DC, April 4, 1949, 6
except by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, 7
provided that two-thirds of the Senators present concur, 8
or pursuant to an Act of Congress. 9
SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON THE USE OF FUNDS. 10
No funds authorized or appropriated by any Act may 11
be used to support, directly or indirectly, any decision on 12
the part of any United States Government official to sus-13
pend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States 14
from the North Atlantic Treaty, done at Washington, DC, 15
April 4, 1949, until such time as both the Senate and the 16
House of Representatives pass, by an affirmative vote of 17
two-thirds of Members, a joint resolution approving the 18
withdrawal of the United States from the treaty, or pursu-19
ant to an Act of Congress. 20
SEC. 3. NOTIFICATION OF TREATY ACTION. 21
(a) C
ONSULTATION.—Prior to the notification de-22
scribed in subsection (b), the President shall consult with 23
the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and 24
the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Rep-25
resentatives in relation to any initiative to suspend, termi-26
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•HJ 89 IH
nate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the 1
North Atlantic Treaty. 2
(b) N
OTIFICATION.—The President shall notify the 3
Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the 4
Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representa-5
tives in writing of any deliberation or decision to suspend, 6
terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from 7
the North Atlantic Treaty, as soon as possible but in no 8
event later than 180 days prior to taking such action. 9
SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF LEGAL COUNSEL TO REP-10
RESENT CONGRESS. 11
(a) I
NGENERAL.—By adoption of a resolution of the 12
Senate or the House of Representatives, respectively, the 13
Senate Legal Counsel or the General Counsel to the House 14
of Representatives may be authorized to initiate, or inter-15
vene in, in the name of the Senate or the House of Rep-16
resentatives, as the case may be, independently, or jointly, 17
any judicial proceedings in any Federal court of competent 18
jurisdiction in order to oppose any action to suspend, ter-19
minate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the 20
North Atlantic Treaty in a manner inconsistent with this 21
resolution. 22
(b) C
ONSIDERATION.—Any resolution or joint resolu-23
tion introduced relevant to North Atlantic Treaty-related 24
matters and pursuant to section 4(a) of this title shall be 25
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considered in accordance with the procedures of section 1
601(b) of the International Security Assistance and Arms 2
Export Control Act of 1976 (Public Law 94–329; 90 Stat. 3
765). 4
SEC. 5. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 5
Any legal counsel operating pursuant to section 4 6
shall report as soon as practicable to the Committee on 7
Foreign Relations of the Senate or the Committee on For-8
eign Affairs of the House of Representatives with respect 9
to any judicial proceedings which the Senate Legal Coun-10
sel or the General Counsel to the House of Representa-11
tives, as the case may be, initiates or in which it intervenes 12
pursuant to section 4. 13
SEC. 6. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 14
Nothing in this resolution shall be construed to au-15
thorize, imply, or otherwise indicate that the President 16
may suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw from any 17
treaty to which the Senate has provided its advice and con-18
sent without the advice and consent of the Senate to such 19
act or pursuant to an Act of Congress. 20
SEC. 7. SEVERABILITY. 21
If any provision of this resolution or the application 22
of such provision is held by a Federal court to be unconsti-23
tutional, the remainder of this resolution and the applica-24
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tion of such provisions to any other person or cir-1
cumstance shall not be affected thereby. 2
SEC. 8. DEFINITIONS. 3
In this resolution, the terms ‘‘withdrawal’’, ‘‘denun-4
ciation’’, ‘‘suspension’’, and ‘‘termination’’ have the mean-5
ing given the terms in the Vienna Convention on the Law 6
of Treaties, concluded at Vienna May 23, 1969. 7
Æ
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