CRS-14
For additional information see: Hutchinson, Martha Crenshaw. The Dominican Republic
35
Intervention in 1965: A Case Study of the Congressional Information Problem. In U.S.
Congress. House. Committee on Foreign Affairs. Executive-Legislative Consultation on
Foreign Policy: Strengthening Foreign Policy Information Sources for Congress. Committee
Print, February 1982. Washington, G.P.O., 1982. p. 73-84.
Holding hearings on resolutions has occasionally given impetus to a policy even
though the resolution itself did not pass. In 1967 Senator Pell introduced S. Res. 172
relating to international regulation of ocean activities. The Administration opposed
the resolution and it was not adopted, but later the concept came to fruition in the
seabed arms control treaty of 1971.
Simple and concurrent resolutions also serve as a channel of communication
between Congress and foreign countries. While often the communications to foreign
governments are formal messages of sympathy, congratulations, and appreciation, at
other times they are more substantive. H. Con. Res. 484 of August 8, 1988, called
on President Zia of Pakistan, consistent with his pledge of May 29, 1988, to hold free
and fair elections not later than November 16, 1988. H. Con. Res. 136 of May 24,
1989, called on the Chinese Government to resolve the political crisis in China
without violence. Congress annually passed resolutions calling for Baltic Freedom
and commemorating “Captive Nations Week” from 1959 until independence was
achieved by Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia in 1991.
Sense of the Congress resolutions also provide a vehicle for support or advice
to the President on foreign policy. After the U.S. military intervention in the
Dominican Republic in 1965, for example, the House passed H. Res. 560 supporting
the President in any action he deemed necessary to prevent Communist subversive
aggression in the Western Hemisphere. On May 5, 1986, the House adopted H.
35
Res. 424 supporting the President’s policy in Libya by expressing gratitude to the
United Kingdom for allowing U.S. bombers stationed there to participate in the April
14, 1986, raid aimed at terrorist bases in Libya.
Congressional concerns over United States involvement in the developing
internal conflicts in former Yugoslavia—Bosnia and Kosovo in particular—led to
passage of sense of the Congress resolutions. Section 8100 of the Defense
Appropriations Act for fiscal year 1995 (P.L. 103-335, signed September 30, 1994)
stated the sense of Congress that DoD funds should not be made available for the
purpose of deploying U.S. armed forces to participate in implementation of a peace
settlement in Bosnia, unless previously authorized by Congress. On March 11, 1999,
the House passed H.Con. Res. 42 by a vote of 219-191, expressing the sense of
Congress that the President was authorized to deploy U.S. troops to Kosovo as part
of a NATO peacekeeping operation, subject to conditions and various reporting
requirements. On March 23, 1999, the Senate by a vote of 58-41 passed S. Con. Res.
21 expressing the sense of the Congress that the President was authorized to conduct
“military air operations and missile strikes in cooperation with our NATO allies
against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). This Senate
concurrent resolution was passed in reaction to the Serbian military actions in Kosovo
and President Clinton’s request, on March 23, 1999, for “legislative support” of his
actions to deal with the Kosovo crisis. Subsequently, on April 28, 1999, the House