•HRES 1028 IH 
eign engagements be left to the sole discretion of the ex-
ecutive branch; 
Whereas the President is Commander in Chief of the Army 
and the Navy of the United States and of the militia of 
the several states when called into service; 
Whereas the Constitution of the United States also gives the 
President the power to receive Ambassadors and other 
public ministers and the duty to ensure that the laws are 
faithfully executed; 
Whereas the Constitution of the United States gives Congress 
the power to declare war, to raise and support armies, to 
provide and maintain a navy, to make rules governing 
such forces, to provide for organizing and calling forth 
the militia, to make rules concerning captures on land 
and water, and to regulate commerce with foreign na-
tions; 
Whereas the Constitution of the United States also gives 
Congress the power to make all laws necessary for car-
rying out the powers vested in the Government, and the 
power to raise and spend money; 
Whereas the Framers of the Constitution of the United 
States recognized that for the protection of the Republic 
the United States Armed Forces must never be inde-
pendent of civil authority and vested in Congress the au-
thority to ‘‘raise and support Armies, but no Appropria-
tion for that Use shall be for a longer Term than two 
Years’’; 
Whereas, in addition, the Senate has the responsibility of 
confirming appointments to diplomatic posts and by two- 
thirds vote must give its advice and consent to treaties 
before such treaties become effective; 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
22:44 Mar 06, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR1028.IH
HR1028
hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
•HRES 1028 IH 
Whereas to believe that the functions of Congress are to sim-
ply approve what the President does in foreign affairs, 
blindly appropriate funds for requests made by the Presi-
dent without question or challenge, or give automatic 
consent and support to whatever foreign policy course the 
executive 
branch 
formulates 
involves 
a 
profound 
misreading of the Constitution of the United States; 
Whereas, despite having the Constitution of the United 
States as a road map and compass, the United States 
has witnessed a disturbing trend toward unchecked presi-
dential supremacy in the formulation and conduct of the 
foreign policy of the United States, especially in the 
aftermath of World War II and the Cold War and the 
steady ascendancy of the United States as a global super-
power; 
Whereas, at times, emboldened Presidents from both political 
parties have transgressed constitutional boundaries by 
committing the United States to foreign conflicts and fi-
nancial burdens, with such Presidents claiming expedi-
ently that the survival of the United States and Western 
civilization itself are at stake; 
Whereas, in 2008, the United States has more than 700 mili-
tary bases and outposts in 130 foreign countries and the 
United States Department of Defense reports that the 
United States Armed Forces are currently deployed in 
more locations than ever before in the history of the 
United States; 
Whereas there is an increasingly dangerous complacency in 
Congress and among the people of the United States who 
have been led to believe that the sheer size, complexity, 
and reach of the United States foreign policy means that 
only the President and his advisors are capable of formu-
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
22:44 Mar 06, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR1028.IH
HR1028
hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
•HRES 1028 IH 
lating and executing the foreign policy of the United 
States in the accelerated 21st century; 
Whereas the 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States, the 
foreign policy response of the Bush-Cheney administra-
tion to such attacks, and the ensuing misnamed, 
mischaracterized, and open-ended ‘‘global war on ter-
rorism’’ risk concentrating unwarranted power in the ex-
ecutive branch and threaten the ingenious system of sep-
aration of powers established by the Framers of the Con-
stitution of the United States; 
Whereas, Congress, established in Article I of the Constitu-
tion of the United States, is a co-equal branch of the 
Government, and each Member of Congress, regardless of 
political party, must resist encroachment by the executive 
branch on the constitutional prerogatives of Congress; 
Whereas, in the most recent example of executive branch 
overreaching, and without congressional consultation or 
input, on November 26, 2007, United States President 
George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- 
Maliki signed the ‘‘U.S.-Iraq Declaration of Principles for 
Friendship and Cooperation’’, a shared statement of in-
tent that established common principles to frame the fu-
ture relationship between the United States and Iraq; 
Whereas President Bush has publicly stated that the relation-
ship envisioned in the ‘‘U.S.-Iraq Declaration of Prin-
ciples for Friendship and Cooperation’’ includes coopera-
tion between the United States and Iraq in the political, 
diplomatic, economic, and security arenas; 
Whereas President Bush has declared his intent, during 
2008, to negotiate and conclude detailed arrangements, 
without any role for Congress, that will codify the bilat-
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
22:44 Mar 06, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR1028.IH
HR1028
hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
•HRES 1028 IH 
eral relationship between the United States and Iraq fol-
lowing the expiration of the mandate of the Multi-Na-
tional Force—Iraq under Chapter VII of the United Na-
tions Charter and the concomitant resumption of Iraq’s 
normal status as a state with full legal and functional 
sovereignty and authorities and the restoration of Iraq’s 
legal international status; 
Whereas status of forces agreements (SOFAs) typically deal 
with routine administrative and legal issues such as the 
protection of United States military personnel from for-
eign jurisdiction, proceedings, and imprisonment, issues 
necessary for day-to-day business such as entry and exit 
of personal belongings, postal and banking services, and 
exemption of certain covered persons from civil and 
criminal jurisdiction, taxation, customs duties, immigra-
tion law, and similar laws of a foreign jurisdiction; 
Whereas the ‘‘Status of Forces Policies, Procedures, and In-
formation’’ of the Department of the Army and the De-
partment of the Navy, issued on December 15, 1989, 
makes clear that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
SOFA is the benchmark for defining a ‘‘standard’’ or 
‘‘typical’’ SOFA agreement because ‘‘the same proce-
dures for safeguarding the interests of U.S. personnel 
subject to foreign jurisdiction will be applied, insofar as 
practicable, to all foreign countries’’; 
Whereas SOFAs customarily do not include any guarantee to 
defend a host country against external or internal 
threats; and 
Whereas SOFAs customarily do not include a provision for 
immunity from host country laws for private military 
contractors not acting in direct support of the United 
States Armed Forces: Now, therefore, be it 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
22:44 Mar 06, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6300
E:\BILLS\HR1028.IH
HR1028
hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
•HRES 1028 IH 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) any agreement, understanding, or commit-
ment, other than a treaty, entered into by the Presi-
dent or his designee, whether characterized or de-
nominated as a status of forces agreement or other-
wise, which purports to impose a binding or enforce-
able obligation on the United States to use or main-
tain the United States Armed Forces to assist a for-
eign country, government, or people, either imme-
diately or upon the happening of certain events, 
should be approved by an Act of Congress; 
(2) any agreement, other than a treaty, between 
the United States and another country that requires 
the use of the financial resources of the United 
States should be approved by an Act of Congress; 
and 
(3) any agreement, other than a treaty, between 
the Republic of Iraq and the United States that im-
poses upon the United States burdens in excess of 
those customarily included in a status of forces 
agreement should likewise have no legal effect if 
such agreement has not been approved by an Act of 
Congress. 
Æ 
VerDate Aug 31 2005 
22:44 Mar 06, 2008
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\HR1028.IH
HR1028
hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS