Congressional Restrictions on U.S. Military Operations in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Somalia, and Kosovo: Funding and Non-Funding Approaches

The Congressional Research Service, a department of the Library of Congress, conducts research and analysis for Congress on a broad range of national and international policy issues. Some of the CRS work is carried out specifically for individual members of Congress or their staff and is confidential. However, there is also much CRS compiled material which is considered public but is not formally published on the CRS website.

For that reason a number of other organisations try to keep track of these publications and make them publicly available via their own websites. Currently, ESO uses the following websites to track these reports and allow access to them in ESO:

EveryCRSReport.com
Federation of American Scientists (FAS)

In some cases hyperlinks allows you to access all versions of a report, including the latest. Note that many reports are periodically updated.Cooper-Church amendment in January 1971 which prohibited using any appropriated funds to introduce ground troops into Cambodia. Legislation enacted in 1973 — after the cease-fire agreement — that cut off funds for combat ‘in or over or from off the shores of North Vietnam, South Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia’ was designed to prevent President Nixon from reintroducing troops or bombing if the North Vietnamese violated the cease-fire.

The legislation described either cut off funding or called on the president to take certain military actions — such as troop withdrawals. The cutoffs generally prohibited the obligation or expenditure of funds that Congress had appropriated, and applied to military activities ranging from combat operations to initial deployments in specified countries. Funds are obligated when the government signs a contract for goods or services or pays military or civilian employees. Those funds are expended (or outlayed) when contractors or personnel are paid.

Some legislative language cut off funding for certain military operations but permitted exceptions, such as the orderly withdrawal of U.S. troops, or was contingent upon meeting certain conditions, such as the release of prisoners or war. Restrictions applied to either funding within the bill, to previous appropriation bills, or to any bill, and went into effect on or after a particular date or set no date. Other language prohibited continued funding unless military operations were authorized.

Congress also considered non-funding approaches that urged the President to withdraw forces, negotiate or terminate military operations, seek congressional authorization for military operations, or set a date for U.S. troop withdrawals. Another approach was congressional repeal of the August 1964 Tonkin Gulf Resolution, which authorized the President to use military force in Vietnam.

• Primary Source

EveryCRSReport.com https://www.everycrsreport.com/

Federation of American Scientists (FAS): Congressional Research Service [CRS] Reports https://fas.org/sgp/crs/index.html

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