118th CONGRESS 1st Session |
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.
July 12, 2023
Mr. Kaine (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Moran, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Cardin, Mr. King, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Warner, and Mrs. Shaheen) introduced the following joint resolution; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
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.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. Opposition of Congress to suspension, termination, denunciation, or withdrawal from North Atlantic Treaty.
The President shall not suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, done at Washington, DC, April 4, 1949, except by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided that two-thirds of the Senators present concur, or pursuant to an Act of Congress.
SEC. 2. Limitation on the use of funds.
No funds authorized or appropriated by any Act may be used to support, directly or indirectly, any decision on the part of any United States Government official to suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, done at Washington, DC, April 4, 1949, until such time as both the Senate and the House of Representatives pass, by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of Members, a joint resolution approving the withdrawal of the United States from the treaty, or pursuant to an Act of Congress.
SEC. 3. Notification of treaty action.
(a) Consultation.—Prior to the notification described in subsection (b), the President shall consult with the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives in relation to any initiative to suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty.
(b) Notification.—The President shall notify the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives in writing of any deliberation or decision to suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, as soon as possible but in no event later than 180 days prior to taking such action.
SEC. 4. Authorization of Legal Counsel to represent Congress.
(a) In general.—By adoption of a resolution of the Senate or the House of Representatives, respectively, the Senate Legal Counsel or the General Counsel to the House of Representatives may be authorized to initiate, or intervene in, in the name of the Senate or the House of Representatives, as the case may be, independently, or jointly, any judicial proceedings in any Federal court of competent jurisdiction in order to oppose any action to suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty in a manner inconsistent with this resolution.
(b) Consideration.—Any resolution or joint resolution introduced relevant to North Atlantic Treaty-related matters and pursuant to section 4(a) of this title 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. 5. Reporting requirement.
Any legal counsel operating pursuant to section 4 shall report as soon as practicable to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate or the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives with respect to any judicial proceedings which the Senate Legal Counsel or the General Counsel to the House of Representatives, as the case may be, initiates or in which it intervenes pursuant to section 4.
Nothing in this resolution shall be construed to authorize, imply, or otherwise indicate that the President may suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw from any treaty to which the Senate has provided its advice and consent without the advice and consent of the Senate to such act or pursuant to an Act of Congress.
If any provision of this resolution or the application of such provision is held by a Federal court to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this resolution and the application of such provisions to any other person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.
In this resolution, the terms “withdrawal”, “denunciation”, “suspension”, and “termination” have the meaning given the terms in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, concluded at Vienna May 23, 1969.