IV 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 40 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the President is prohibited under 
the Constitution from initiating war against Syria without express con-
gressional authorization and the appropriation of funds for the express 
purpose of waging such a war. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 20, 2013 
Mr. JONES submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred 
to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on 
Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the President is pro-
hibited under the Constitution from initiating war 
against Syria without express congressional authorization 
and the appropriation of funds for the express purpose 
of waging such a war. 
Whereas the Constitution’s makers entrusted decisions to ini-
tiate offensive warfare not in self-defense exclusively to 
Congress in article I, section 8, clause 11; 
Whereas the Constitution’s makers knew that the Executive 
Branch would be prone to manufacture danger and to de-
ceive Congress and the United States people to justify 
gratuitous wars to aggrandize executive power; 
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•HCON 40 IH 
Whereas chronic wars are irreconcilable with liberty, a sepa-
ration of powers, and the rule of law; 
Whereas the entry of the United States Armed Forces into 
the ongoing war in Syria to overthrow President Bashar 
al-Assad would make the United States less safe by 
awakening new enemies; 
Whereas the fate of Syria is irrelevant to the security and 
welfare of the United States and its citizens and is not 
worth risking the life of a single member of the United 
States Armed Forces; 
Whereas humanitarian wars are a contradiction in terms and 
characteristically lead to semi-anarchy and chaos, as in 
Somalia and Libya; 
Whereas if victorious, the hydra-headed Syrian insurgency 
would suppress the Christian population or other minori-
ties as has been similarly witnessed in Iraq with its Shi-
ite-dominated government; and 
Whereas United States military aid to the Syrian insurgents 
risks blowback indistinguishable from the military assist-
ance provided to the splintered Afghan mujahideen in Af-
ghanistan to oppose the Soviet Union and culminated in 
the 9/11 abominations: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the President is prohibited under the Con-
stitution from the offensive use of the United States 
Armed Forces in Syria without prior express author-
ization by an Act of Congress or without a prior ex-
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•HCON 40 IH 
press appropriation of funds for that purpose by an 
Act of Congress; and 
(2) the President’s defiance of those constitu-
tional limitations on his authority to initiate war 
would constitute an impeachable high crime and 
misdemeanor under article II, section 4 of the Con-
stitution. 
Æ 
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