_____________ resolution NO. _____________
By Request of the ****
A JOINT
RESOLUTION OF THE SENATE AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF
MONTANA URGING THE PRESIDENT
OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO END THE ENDLESS WAR IN
AFGHANISTAN, TO REPEAL THE 2001 AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF MILITARY FORCE, TO
TAKE NO ACTION TO EMPLOY MILITARY FORCES OF THE UNITED STATES IN ACTIVE DUTY
COMBAT UNLESS THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS HAS PASSED AN OFFICIAL DECLARATION OF
WAR OR HAS TAKEN AN OFFICIAL ACTION OR RENEWED ACTION TO AUTHORIZE THE USE OF
MILITARY FORCE, AND TO EXECUTE A PRUDENT FOREIGN POLICY.
WHEREAS, Article I, section 8, of the
Constitution of the United States vests in the United States Congress the exclusive
power to declare war; and
WHEREAS, despite the clear language of the
Constitution of the United States, the United States Congress has abdicated its
constitutional duty, too often vesting the power to make war solely in the Executive
Branch; and
WHEREAS, the first President, George Washington,
wrote: "The Constitution vests the power of declaring war in Congress; therefore
no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall
have deliberated upon the subject and authorized such a measure"; and
WHEREAS, the father of the Constitution of the
United States and the fourth President, James Madison, wrote: "The
Constitution supposes, what the history of all governments demonstrates, that
the Executive is the branch of power most interested in war, and most prone to
it... It has accordingly with studied care vested the question of war in the Legislature";
and
WHEREAS, the author of the Declaration of
Independence and the third President, Thomas Jefferson, wrote: "We have
already given in example one effectual check to the dog of war by transferring
the power of letting him loose from the Executive to the Legislative body..."
and "Considering that Congress alone is constitutionally invested with the
power of changing our condition from peace to war, I have thought it my duty to
await their authority for using force in any degree which could be avoided";
and
WHEREAS, another constitutional framer and the
first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, wrote: "The Congress
shall have the power to declare war"; the plain meaning of which is that
it is the peculiar and exclusive duty of the United States Congress, when the
nation is at peace, to change that state into a state of war; and
WHEREAS, contrary to these clear intentions of the
Founding Fathers, the United States Congress has not declared war in over 70
years, and the nation has since gone to war repeatedly at the direction of the Executive
Branch; and
WHEREAS, even when the United States Congress has
passed authorizations for the use of military force in the past 70 years, they
have featured broad and unspecific language that has consistently empowered the
Executive Branch to engage in open-ended war with little to none of the
oversight and debate about our foreign policy that the Founding Fathers
intended; and
WHEREAS, less than one-fifth of current members
of the United States Congress voted on the 2001 Authorization for the Use of
Military Force, the authority for sending American troops into war in
Afghanistan; and
WHEREAS, the United States was justified in its
initial response to the 9/11 attacks, and through their valiant efforts our
military long ago accomplished our principal strategic goals of bringing the
perpetrators to justice, decimating core Al-Qaeda, and severely punishing the
Taliban; and
WHEREAS, the United States' continued
nation-building attempts in Afghanistan ever since have resulted in the longest
war in American history, now old enough that children of our first war fighters
can join the military and be deployed to the same war zone their parents served;
and
WHEREAS, due to its broad and unspecific
language, the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force has been invoked
over 41 times to deploy United States troops to over 19 countries since 2001,
far beyond the intended scope of its sponsors; and
WHEREAS, the decision to put an American troop in
harm's way is among the most important votes a Legislator can take; and
WHEREAS, Montana is home to Malmstrom Air Force
Base, nearly 9,000 active duty and reserve military personnel, and over 92,000 veterans,
giving it the third-highest percentage of veteran residents of any state; and
WHEREAS, the United States' post-9/11 wars have
carried a heavy price, including more than 7,000 service members lost, over
53,000 wounded, an estimated 1.1 million veterans who have developed
service-connected disabilities, and over $6.4 trillion spent; and
WHEREAS, the costs of these open-ended conflicts
include an increase in Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, faced by nearly a
quarter of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, and veteran suicides, which have
increased a shocking 43% between 2005 and 2017 to nearly 17 a day; and
WHEREAS, over two-thirds of American veterans
support bringing our troops home from Afghanistan, according to 2021 polling.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE
AND THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
(1) That the President of the United States and the
United States Congress be urged to take no action to employ military forces of
the United States in active-duty combat unless and until the United States Congress
has passed an official declaration of war or has taken an official action or
renewed action to authorize the use of military force save in instances when
our forces must respond to attack.
(2) That the President of the United States and the
United States Congress be urged to repeal the 2001 Authorization for the Use of
Military Force and to ensure any future authorizations feature geographic and
mission-specific language on their intended scope, regular reporting on their
use, and automatic sunsets to require their periodic review, debate, and
approval by recorded vote.
(3) That the State of Montana call on the President
of the United States and the United States Congress to continue to follow
through on the progress made since February 2020 toward a full withdrawal from Afghanistan,
and to end any periods of endless or perpetual armed conflict with no clear
conditions of conclusion or connection to our vital national interests that
risk the lives of our military members.
(4) That the State of Montana reaffirm its support
of our armed forces who have sworn to protect and defend our nation's freedom
and prosperity.
(5) That the Secretary of State send a copy of this
resolution to the President of the United States, the Majority Leader of the United
States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and
the members of the Montana Congressional Delegation with the request that this
resolution be officially entered into the congressional record.