IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 391 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should not initiate 
military action against Iran with respect to its nuclear program without 
first obtaining authorization from Congress. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
APRIL 26, 2006 
Mr. DEFAZIO (for himself, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. 
HONDA, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Ms. 
LEE, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BROWN of 
Ohio, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. MCCOLLUM of Minnesota, Ms. 
BALDWIN, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. INS-
LEE, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. PAYNE, 
Mr. KUCINICH, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. WATSON, Mr. HOLT, Mr. CAPUANO, 
Mr. HINCHEY, and Mr. OBERSTAR) submitted the following concurrent 
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Rela-
tions 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the President should 
not initiate military action against Iran with respect 
to its nuclear program without first obtaining authoriza-
tion from Congress. 
Whereas Article I, section 8 of the Constitution grants Con-
gress 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 
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•HCON 391 IH 
regulation for the land and naval forces,’’ to ‘‘provide for 
calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, 
suppress insurrections and 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 the Administration 
have argued that the ‘‘Commander-in-Chief’’ clause in 
the Constitution grants the President wide latitude to en-
gage 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-
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•HCON 391 IH 
cept to allow the President to repel sudden attacks and 
immediate threats; 
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-
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•HCON 391 IH 
fense.’’; and he further noted that it was up to Congress 
to authorize ‘‘measures of offense also’’; 
Whereas with respect to Iran, according to the most definitive 
United States intelligence report, Iran is likely a decade 
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 (IAEA), 
and the United Nations Security Council continue; and 
Whereas, despite these diplomatic efforts and statements by 
President Bush, Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, and oth-
ers members of the Administration that diplomacy is the 
preferred route, there are an increasing number of re-
ports 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 
without congressional approval in response to Iran’s 
nuclear program does not fall within the President’s 
‘‘Commander-in-Chief’’ powers under the Constitu-
tion; 
(2) rejects any suggestion that Public Law 
107–40, the authorization of force resolution ap-
proved in response to the terrorist attacks of Sep-
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•HCON 391 IH 
tember 11, 2001, explicitly or implicitly, extends to 
authorizing military action against Iran over its nu-
clear program; 
(3) rejects any suggestion that Public Law 
107–243, the authorization of force resolution ap-
proved by Congress to go to war with Iraq, explicitly 
or implicitly, extends to authorizing military action 
against Iran over its nuclear program; and 
(4) strongly and unequivocally believes that 
seeking congressional authority prior to taking mili-
tary action against Iran is not discretionary, but is 
a legal and constitutional requirement. 
Æ 
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