IIA 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. J. RES. 17 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 15, 2021 

Mr. KAINE (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. 

COONS, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. GRAHAM, 

Mr. KING, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. MORAN, Mrs. SHAHEEN, 

and Mr. WARNER) introduced the following joint resolution; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

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 authorizing related litigation, and for other purposes. 

1 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives

2 of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. OPPOSITION OF CONGRESS TO SUSPENSION, 

4 TERMINATION, DENUNCIATION, OR WITH5 DRAWAL FROM NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY. 

6 The President shall not suspend, terminate, de7 nounce, or withdraw the United States from the North 


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•SJ 17 IS 

1 Atlantic Treaty, done at Washington, DC, April 4, 1949, 

2 except by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, 

3 provided that two-thirds of the Senators present concur, 

4 or pursuant to an Act of Congress. 

5 SEC. 2. LIMITATION ON THE USE OF FUNDS. 

6 No funds authorized or appropriated by any Act may 

7 be used to support, directly or indirectly, any efforts on 

8 the part of any United States Government official to take 

9 steps to suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the 

10 United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, done at 

11 Washington, DC, April 4, 1949, until such time as both 

12 the Senate and the House of Representatives pass, by an 

13 affirmative vote of two-thirds of Members, a joint resolu14 tion approving the withdrawal of the United States from 

15 the treaty or pursuant to an Act of Congress. 

16 SEC. 3. NOTIFICATION OF TREATY ACTION. 

17 The President shall notify the Committee on Foreign 

18 Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign 

19 Affairs of the House of Representatives in writing of any 

20 effort to suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the 

21 United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, as soon 

22 as possible but in no event later than 48 hours after any 

23 such action is taken. 


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•SJ 17 IS 

1 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF LEGAL COUNSEL TO REP2 RESENT CONGRESS. 

3 Both the Senate Legal Counsel and the General 

4 Counsel to the House of Representatives are authorized 

5 to independently or collectively represent Congress in initi6 ating or intervening in any judicial proceedings in any 

7 Federal court of competent jurisdiction on behalf of Con8 gress in order to oppose any effort to suspend, terminate, 

9 denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North 

10 Atlantic Treaty in a manner inconsistent with this joint 

11 resolution. 

12 SEC. 5. REPORTING REQUIREMENT. 

13 Any legal counsel operating pursuant to section 4 

14 shall report as soon as practicable to the Committee on 

15 Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on 

16 Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives with re17 spect to any judicial proceedings which the Senate Legal 

18 Counsel or the General Counsel to the House of Rep19 resentatives, as the case may be, initiates or in which it 

20 intervenes pursuant to section 4. 

21 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

22 In this resolution, the terms ‘‘withdrawal’’, ‘‘denun23 ciation’’, ‘‘suspension’’, and ‘‘termination’’ have the mean24 ing given the terms in the Vienna Convention on the Law 

25 of Treaties, concluded at Vienna May 23, 1969. 

Æ 


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