II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3176 

To provide that the President must seek congressional approval before engaging members of the United States Armed Forces in military humanitarian 

operations. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 14, 2012 

Mr. WEBB (for himself and Mr. LEE) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To provide that the President must seek congressional approval before engaging members of the United States 

Armed Forces in military humanitarian operations. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Military Humanitarian 

5 Operations Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. MILITARY HUMANITARIAN OPERATION DEFINED. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—In this Act, the term ‘‘military 

8 humanitarian operation’’ means a military operation in9 volving the deployment of members or weapons systems 


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1 of the United States Armed Forces where hostile activities 

2 are reasonably anticipated and with the aim of preventing 

3 or responding to a humanitarian catastrophe, including its 

4 regional consequences, or addressing a threat posed to 

5 international peace and security. The term includes— 

6 (1) operations undertaken pursuant to the prin7 ciple of the ‘‘responsibility to protect’’ as referenced 

8 in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1674 

9 (2006); 

10 (2) operations specifically authorized by the 

11 United Nations Security Council, or other inter12 national organizations; and 

13 (3) unilateral deployments and deployments 

14 made in coordination with international organiza15 tions, treaty-based organizations, or coalitions 

16 formed to address specific humanitarian catas17 trophes. 

18 (b) OPERATIONS NOT INCLUDED.—The term ‘‘mili19 tary humanitarian operation’’ does not mean a military 

20 operation undertaken for the following purposes: 

21 (1) Responding to or repelling attacks, or pre22 venting imminent attacks, on the United States or 

23 any of its territorial possessions, embassies, or con24 sulates, or members of the United States Armed 

25 Forces. 


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1 (2) Direct acts of reprisal for attacks on the 

2 United States or any of its territorial possessions, 

3 embassies, or consulates, or members of the United 

4 States Armed Forces. 

5 (3) Invoking the inherent right to individual or 

6 collective self-defense in accordance with Article 51 

7 of the Charter of the United Nations. 

8 (4) Military missions to protect or rescue 

9 United States citizens or military or diplomatic per10 sonnel abroad. 

11 (5) Carrying out treaty commitments to directly 

12 aid allies in distress. 

13 (6) Humanitarian missions in response to nat14 ural disasters where no civil unrest or combat with 

15 hostile forces is reasonably anticipated, and where 

16 such operation is for a limited duration. 

17 (7) Actions to maintain maritime freedom of 

18 navigation, including actions aimed at combating pi19 racy. 

20 (8) Training exercises conducted by the United 

21 States Armed Forces abroad where no combat with 

22 hostile forces is reasonably anticipated. 


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1 SEC. 3. REQUIREMENT FOR CONGRESSIONAL AUTHORIZA2 TION. 

3 (a) AUTHORIZATION REQUIRED.—The President 

4 may not deploy members of the United States Armed 

5 Forces into the territory, airspace, or waters of a foreign 

6 country for a military humanitarian operation not pre7 viously authorized by statute unless— 

8 (1) the President submits to Congress a formal 

9 request for authorization to use members of the 

10 Armed Forces for the military humanitarian oper11 ation; and 

12 (2) Congress enacts a specific authorization for 

13 such use of forces. 

14 (b) JOINT RESOLUTION OF APPROVAL.— 

15 (1) INTRODUCTION AND PLACEMENT ON CAL16 ENDAR.—If the President submits a formal request 

17 under subsection (a)(1) for authorization to use 

18 members of the Armed Forces for a military human19 itarian operation, then within 1 calendar day of such 

20 request, the majority leader of the Senate and the 

21 Speaker of the House of Representatives shall intro22 duce an identical joint resolution in the Senate and 

23 the House of Representatives calling for consider24 ation of the military humanitarian operation and 

25 shall place such resolution directly on the calendar 

26 of the respective House. 


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1 (2) FLOOR CONSIDERATION.— 

2 (A) IN GENERAL.—It shall be in order for 

3 any Member of the respective House to move to 

4 proceed to the consideration of a resolution in5 troduced under paragraph (1), and all points of 

6 order against the resolution (and against con7 sideration of the resolution) are waived. The 

8 motion is highly privileged in the House of Rep9 resentatives and is privileged in the Senate and 

10 is not debatable. The motion is not subject to 

11 amendment, to a motion to postpone, or to a 

12 motion to proceed to the consideration of other 

13 business. A motion to reconsider the vote by 

14 which the motion is agreed to or disagreed to 

15 shall not be in order. If a motion to proceed to 

16 the consideration of the resolution is agreed to, 

17 the resolution shall remain the unfinished busi18 ness of the respective House until disposed of. 

19 (B) DEBATE.—Debate on the resolution, 

20 and on all debatable motions and appeals in 

21 connection therewith, shall be limited to not 

22 more than 4 hours, which shall be divided 

23 equally between those favoring and those oppos24 ing the resolution. A motion further to limit de25 bate is in order and not debatable. An amendVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:11 May 15, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3176.IS S3176

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1 ment to, or a motion to postpone, or a motion 

2 to proceed to the consideration of other busi3 ness, or a motion to recommit the resolution is 

4 not in order. A motion to reconsider the vote by 

5 which the resolution is agreed to or disagreed to 

6 is not in order. 

7 (C) VOTE ON FINAL PASSAGE.—Imme8 diately following the conclusion of the debate on 

9 the resolution, and a single quorum call at the 

10 conclusion of the debate if requested in accord11 ance with the rules of the appropriate House, 

12 the vote on final passage of the resolution shall 

13 occur. The vote shall occur not later than 48 

14 hours after submission of a formal request 

15 under subsection (a)(1), unless the President 

16 waives such deadline, in which case the vote in 

17 each House shall occur on the next calendar 

18 day each respective House is in session. 

19 (D) RULINGS OF THE CHAIR ON PROCE20 DURE.—Appeals from the decisions of the Chair 

21 relating to the application of the rules of the 

22 Senate or the House of Representatives, as the 

23 case may be, to the procedure relating to a res24 olution described in paragraph (1) shall be de25 cided without debate. 


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1 (3) COORDINATION WITH ACTION BY OTHER

2 HOUSE.—If, before the passage by one House of a 

3 resolution of that House described in paragraph (1), 

4 that House receives from the other House a resolu5 tion described in paragraph (1)— 

6 (A) the resolution of the other House shall 

7 not be referred to a committee; and 

8 (B) with respect to the resolution of the 

9 House receiving the resolution, the procedure in 

10 the receiving House shall be the same as if no 

11 joint resolution had been received from the 

12 other House until the vote on final passage, 

13 when the joint resolution received from the 

14 other House shall supplant the joint resolution 

15 of the receiving House. 

16 (4) RULES OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

17 AND SENATE.—This subsection is enacted by Con18 gress— 

19 (A) as an exercise of the rulemaking power 

20 of the Senate and House of Representatives, re21 spectively, and as such it is deemed a part of 

22 the rules of each House, respectively, but appli23 cable only with respect to the procedure to be 

24 followed in that House in the case of a resolu25 tion described in paragraph (1), and it superVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:11 May 15, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3176.IS S3176

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1 sedes other rules only to the extent that it is in2 consistent with such rules; and 

3 (B) with full recognition of the constitu4 tional right of either House to change the rules 

5 (so far as relating to the procedure of that 

6 House) at any time, in the same manner and 

7 to the same extent as in the case of any other 

8 rule of that House. 

9 SEC. 4. SEVERABILITY. 

10 If any provision of this Act is held to be unconstitu11 tional, the remainder of the Act shall not be affected. 

Æ 


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