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

Publication Date: January 2007

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

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Research Area: Military and defense

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Abstract:

The main body of this report is a series of tables and an appendix that summarize and cite bill language that was intended to end or restrict U.S. military operations in Indochina between 1970 and 1973, in Somalia in 1993, and in Kosovo in 1999. The report covers enacted provisions or those where there were roll call votes but the provision was not ultimately enacted. The first table outlines proposals that restrict funding and the second table describes other types of restrictions.

Of 21 proposals to restrict funding for military operations that were considered by Congress, 5 were enacted. In the case of Indochina, a major demarcation was the signing of the Vietnam peace accords and a cease-fire agreement between the United States and North Vietnam in January 1973 that required the total withdrawal of U.S. troops by March 1973. Congress continued to provide funds for U.S. troops as levels fell from a peak of 539,000 in June 1969 to 21,500 in January 1973.

In response to the invasion of Cambodia from April to June 1970, Congress considered and ultimately enacted the 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.