IV 
110TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 33 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should not initiate 
military action against Iran without first obtaining authorization from 
Congress. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 16, 2007 
Mr. DEFAZIO (for himself, Mr. HOLT, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. 
CUMMINGS, Mr. FARR, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. DOGGETT, Ms. LEE, Mr. 
CONYERS, Mr. STARK, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, 
Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Ms. HOOLEY, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 
THOMPSON of California, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. CAPUANO, and Mr. 
MURTHA) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should 
not initiate military action against Iran without first 
obtaining authorization from Congress. 
Whereas Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitu-
tion grants Congress the power ‘‘to declare war,’’ to lay 
and collect taxes, to ‘‘provide for the common defense’’ 
and general welfare of the United States, to ‘‘raise and 
support armies,’’ to ‘‘provide and maintain a navy,’’ to 
‘‘make rules for the regulation for the land and naval 
forces,’’ to ‘‘provide for calling forth the militia to exe-
cute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and 
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•HCON 33 IH 
repel invasions,’’ to ‘‘provide for organizing, arming, and 
disciplining, the militia,’’ and to ‘‘make all laws necessary 
and proper for carrying into execution . . . all . . . powers 
vested by this Constitution in the Government of the 
United States’’; 
Whereas the Constitution also grants Congress exclusive 
power over the purse, ‘‘No money shall be drawn from 
the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made 
by law’’; 
Whereas the sole war power granted to the executive branch 
through the President can be found in Article II, Section 
2, which states, ‘‘The President shall be the Commander- 
in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and 
of the Militia of the several States, when called into ac-
tual Service of the United States . . .’’; 
Whereas President George W. Bush and his Administration 
have argued that this ‘‘Commander-in-Chief’’ clause 
grants the President wide latitude to engage United 
States military forces abroad without prior authorization 
from Congress; 
Whereas the President further argues that previous unilateral 
actions by presidents of both political parties add cre-
dence to this interpretation of the Constitution; 
Whereas in reality, nothing in the history of the ‘‘Com-
mander-in-Chief’’ clause suggests that the authors of the 
provision intended it to grant the executive branch the 
authority to engage United States forces in military ac-
tion without any prior authorization from Congress, ex-
cept to allow the President to repel sudden attacks and 
immediate threats; 
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•HCON 33 IH 
Whereas in the Federalist Paper Number 69, while com-
paring the lesser war-making power of the United States 
President versus the King of Great Britain, Alexander 
Hamilton wrote, ‘‘. . . the President is to be commander- 
in-chief of the Army and Navy of the United States. In 
this respect his authority would be nominally the same 
with that of the King of Great Britain, but in substance 
much inferior to it. It would amount to nothing more 
than the supreme command and direction of the military 
and naval forces, as first General and admiral of the 
Confederacy; while that of the British king extends to the 
declaring of war and to raising and regulating of fleets 
and armies, all which, by the Constitution under consid-
eration, would appertain to the legislature.’’; 
Whereas James Madison declared that it is necessary to ad-
here to the ‘‘fundamental doctrine of the Constitution 
that the power to declare war is fully and exclusively 
vested in the legislature’’; 
Whereas in 1793, President George Washington, when con-
sidering how to protect inhabitants of the American fron-
tier, instructed his Administration that ‘‘no offensive ex-
pedition of importance can be undertaken until after 
[Congress] have deliberated upon the subject, and au-
thorized such a measure’’; 
Whereas in 1801, Thomas Jefferson sent a small squadron 
of frigates to the Mediterranean to protect against pos-
sible attacks by the Barbary powers; he told Congress 
that he was ‘‘unauthorized by the Constitution, without 
the sanction of Congress, to go beyond the line of de-
fense.’’; and he further noted that it was up to Congress 
to authorize ‘‘measures of offense also’’; 
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•HCON 33 IH 
Whereas with respect to Iran, according to the most definitive 
United States intelligence report, Iran is several years 
away from developing a nuclear weapon, and even the 
most pessimistic analysis by outside experts puts the 
timeline at least three years away, assuming Iran suffers 
no setbacks during development, which would be unprece-
dented; 
Whereas diplomatic efforts involving Iran, the United States, 
the European Union, Russia, the People’s Republic of 
China, the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the 
United Nations Security Council continue; and 
Whereas, despite these diplomatic efforts and statements by 
President Bush and other members of his Administration 
that diplomacy is the preferred route, there are an in-
creasing number of reports that preparations for war are 
underway: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That Congress— 
(1) strongly believes initiating military action 
against Iran without congressional approval does not 
fall within the President’s ‘‘Commander-in-Chief’’ 
powers under the Constitution; 
(2) rejects any suggestion that Public Law 
107–40, the authorization of force resolution ap-
proved in response to the terrorist attacks of Sep-
tember 11, 2001, explicitly or implicitly, extends to 
authorizing military action against Iran, including 
over its nuclear program; 
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