S.Amdt. 5685

SA 5685. Mr. KAINE submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to amendment SA 5499 submitted by Mr. Reed (for himself and Mr. Inhofe) and intended to be proposed to the bill H.R. 7900, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 2023 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle F of title XII, add the following:

SEC. 1276. LIMITATION ON WITHDRAWAL FROM NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY.

(a) Opposition of Congress to Suspension, Termination, Denunciation, or Withdrawal From North Atlantic Treaty.--The President shall not suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, done at Washington, DC, April 4, 1949, except by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided that two-thirds of the Senators present concur, or pursuant to an Act of Congress.

(b) Limitation on the Use of Funds.--No funds authorized or appropriated by any Act may be used to support, directly or indirectly, any efforts on the part of any United States Government official to take steps to suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, done at Washington, DC, April 4, 1949, until such time as both the Senate and the House of Representatives pass, by an affirmative vote of two-thirds of Members, a joint resolution approving the withdrawal of the United States from the treaty or pursuant to an Act of Congress.

(c) Notification of Treaty Action.--

(1) Consultation.--Prior to the notification described in paragraph (2), the President shall consult with the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives in relation to any effort to suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty.

(2) Notification.--The President shall notify the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives in writing of any effort to suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty, as soon as possible but in no event later than 180 days prior to taking such action.

(d) Authorization of Legal Counsel to Represent Congress.--Both the Senate Legal Counsel and the General Counsel to the House of Representatives are authorized to independently or collectively represent Congress in initiating or intervening in any judicial proceedings in any Federal court of competent jurisdiction on behalf of Congress in order to oppose any effort to suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw the United States from the North Atlantic Treaty in a manner inconsistent with this section.

(e) Reporting Requirement.--Any legal counsel operating pursuant to subsection (d) shall report as soon as practicable to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives with respect to any judicial proceedings which the Senate Legal Counsel or the General Counsel to the House of Representatives, as the case may be, initiates or in which it intervenes pursuant to subsection (d).

(f) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize, imply, or otherwise indicate that the President may suspend, terminate, denounce, or withdraw from any treaty to which the Senate has provided its advice and consent without the advice and consent of the Senate to such act or pursuant to an Act of Congress.

(g) Severability.--If any provision of this section or the application of such provision is held by a Federal court to be unconstitutional, the remainder of this section and the application of the provisions of such to any person or circumstance shall not be affected thereby.

(h) Definitions.--In this section, the terms “withdrawal”, “denunciation”, “suspension”, and “termination” have the meaning given the terms in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, concluded at Vienna May 23, 1969.