S.Amdt. 4001

SA 4001. Mr. MERKLEY (for himself, Ms. Alsobrooks, Mr. Van Hollen,
Mr. Welch, Mr. Kim, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Markey, Mr. Sanders,
and Mr. Wyden) submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 3951 submitted by Ms. Collins and intended to be proposed
to the bill H.R. 4016, making appropriations for the Department of
Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2026, and for other
purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. __. PROHIBITION ON USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES TO
CONDUCT HOSTILITIES WITH RESPECT TO VENEZUELA.

(a) Prohibition.--None of the funds appropriated or
otherwise made available for the Department of Defense, or
for any other department or agency of the United States
Government, may be used to conduct hostilities with respect
to Venezuela, except--
(1) pursuant to a specific statutory authorization enacted
after the date of the enactment of this Act; or
(2) pursuant to a congressional authorization consistent
with section 2(c) of the War Powers Resolution (50 U.S.C.
1541(c)).
(b) Rules of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall
be construed to prevent the United States from--
(1) acting to defend itself or its citizens from an armed
attack or the threat of an imminent armed attack;
(2) acting to defend the United States Armed Forces or
United States personnel from an armed attack;
(3) conducting lawful counternarcotics operations that do
not constitute hostilities; or
(4) providing humanitarian assistance to the people of
Venezuela.
(c) Hostilities Defined.--In this section, the term
``hostilities'' means any situation involving any use of
lethal or potentially lethal force by United States forces,
whether such force is deployed remotely and irrespective of
the intermittency thereof.
(d) Relation to the War Powers Resolution.--Nothing in this
section supersedes any requirement of the War Powers
Resolution (50 U.S.C. 1541 et seq.).
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