Note: This resolution was passed unanimously by the state Resolutions and Platform Committee, and will be introduced at the January 2020 Democratic Party SEC meeting.
Whereas the Trump administration has moved the U.S. into a war posture with Iran through increased hostile rhetoric, and by using the routine deployment of a battleship in the region to threaten “unrelenting force”; and
Whereas Article I, Section 8, Clause 11 of the United States Constitution gives Congress the sole power to declare war, but the President of the United States currently has de facto sole authority to order war without any required consultation with Congress or any system of checks and balances; and
Whereas the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the Iran Nuclear Deal) and is using sanctions as a weapon of war to instigate hostilities with Iran; and
Whereas it has been reported that National Security Advisor John Bolton is overseeing the revision of war plans to send upwards of 120,000 troops and 120 additional warships to the Middle East: and
Whereas it is vital that Congress preemptively assert its constitutional war authority, and take steps to fulfill its ethical obligation to ensure that the President of the United States no longer has the unchecked authority to launch war; and
Whereas the War Powers Resolution, of 1973, section 2(c), subsection 3 authorizes the President to conduct undeclared wars without congressional consent only in a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces;
Therefore, be it resolved that the North Carolina Democratic Party supports and applauds members of Congress who are working to fulfill their ethical constitutional obligation to their people by reestablishing a system of checks and balances to ensure that the President of the United States no longer has the sole and unchecked authority to launch war; and
Be it further resolved that the North Carolina Democratic Party supports immediately ending the use of the Authorization for the Use of Military Force of 2001 (AUMF) by the Administration to justify America’s undeclared wars in the Middle East, and asks Congress to repeal the War Powers Resolution of 1973 which has been used by this and previous administrations to justify current laws and resolutions allowing the President to conduct undeclared wars; and
Be it further resolved that the North Carolina Democratic Party thanks members of the U.S. Senate who supported S.1039, the Prevention of Unconstitutional War with Iran Act of 2019, and thanks members of the US House of Representatives who supported companion bill H.R.2354; and
And finally, be it resolved that the North Carolina Democratic Party shall send a copy of this resolution to the President of the United States, the Senate Majority Leader, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each member of Congress who represents North Carolina.