IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 70 
Directing the President pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution 
to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Syrian 
Arab Republic that have not been authorized by Congress. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 31, 2019 
Ms. GABBARD submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Directing the President pursuant to section 5(c) of the War 
Powers Resolution to remove United States Armed 
Forces from hostilities in the Syrian Arab Republic that 
have not been authorized by Congress. 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), 
SECTION 1. REMOVAL OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES 
FROM HOSTILITIES IN THE SYRIAN ARAB RE-
PUBLIC THAT HAVE NOT BEEN AUTHORIZED 
BY CONGRESS. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
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(1) Congress has the sole power to declare war 
under article I, section 8 of the Constitution. 
(2) Congress has not declared war with respect 
to, or provided any specific statutory authorization 
for, United States military participation in any ac-
tivity related to securing, guarding, possessing, prof-
iting off of, or developing oil fields in northern 
Syria. All of these actions are unconstitutional. 
(3) President Donald Trump stated on October 
27, 2019 regarding Syria that ‘‘we are leaving sol-
diers to secure the oil. Now, we may have to fight 
for the oil. That’s OK. Maybe somebody else wants 
the oil, in which case they have a hell of a fight.’’ 
And that ‘‘it can help us, because we should be able 
to take some also. And what I intend to do, perhaps, 
is make a deal with an ExxonMobil or one of our 
great companies to go in there and do it properly. 
Right now it’s not big. It’s big oil underground but 
it’s not big oil up top.’’. 
(4) The Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper, 
stated on October 28, 2019, regarding oil in Syria 
that ‘‘US troops will remain positioned in this stra-
tegic area to deny ISIS access those vital resources. 
And we will respond with overwhelming military 
force against any group that threatens the safety of 
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our forces there.’’. Secretary Esper confirmed that 
this includes denying access to the oil from Russian 
and Syrian forces. 
(5) Oil, natural resources, and land in Syria be-
long to the Syrian people, not the United States. 
(6) Depriving the Syrian people from the eco-
nomic benefit of their natural resources will inhibit 
them from rebuilding their country. It is not hu-
mane or in the national security interests of the 
United States for the Syrian Arab Republic to be an 
unstable or failed state. An unstable or failed Syrian 
state further proliferates the presence of terrorist or-
ganizations like al-Qaeda and ISIS in Syria, and sig-
nificantly deteriorates the humanitarian condition of 
the Syrian people. 
(7) Section 8(c) of the War Powers Resolution 
(50 U.S.C. 1547(c)) defines the introduction of 
United States Armed Forces to include ‘‘the assign-
ment of members of such armed forces to command, 
coordinate, participate in the movement of, or ac-
company the regular or irregular military forces of 
any foreign country or government when such mili-
tary forces are engaged, or there exists an imminent 
threat that such forces will become engaged, in hos-
tilities.’’. 
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(b) REMOVAL OF ARMED FORCES.—Pursuant to sec-
tion 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C. 
1544(c)), Congress hereby directs the President to remove 
United States Armed Forces from hostilities in the Syrian 
Arab Republic, except United States Armed Forces en-
gaged in operations authorized under the Authorization 
for Use of Military Force (Public Law 107–40; 50 U.S.C. 
1541 note), not later than 30 days after the date of the 
adoption of this concurrent resolution unless and until a 
declaration of war or specific authorization for such use 
of United States Armed Forces has been enacted into law. 
Æ 
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