Case–Church Amendment

The Case–Church Amendment was proposed, as an amendment to several appropriations bills funding various departments of the United States Government, in 1972 and 1973. The first version actually to become law, passed by both houses of the Congress on June 29, 1973, and signed by President Richard Nixon on July 1, read: "None of the funds herein appropriated under this Act may be expended to support directly or indirectly combat activities in or over Cambodia, Laos, North Vietnam and South Vietnam or off the shores of Cambodia, Laos, North Vietnam and South Vietnam by United States forces, and after August 15, 1973, no other funds heretofore appropriated under any other act may be expended for such purpose."^[1] This ended direct U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War, although the U.S. continued to provide military equipment and economic support to the governments of Cambodia, Laos, and South Vietnam. It is named for its principal co-sponsors, Senators Clifford P. Case (R–NJ) and Frank Church (D–ID).

Case–Church Amendment

Other short titles	Case–Church Amendment of 1973
Long title	A joint resolution making continuing appropriations for the fiscal year 1974, and for other purposes.
Enacted by	the 93rd United States Congress
Effective	July 1, 1973
Citations
Public law	93-52
Statutes at Large	87 Stat. 130
Codification
Titles amended	22 U.S.C.: Foreign Relations and Intercourse
U.S.C. sections amended	22 U.S.C. ch. 32 §§ 2151, 2751
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.J.Res. 636 by George H. Mahon (D–TX) on June 25, 1973 Committee consideration by House Appropriations, Senate Appropriations Passed the House on June 26, 1973 (325–86) Passed the Senate on June 29, 1973 (73–16) Reported by the joint conference committee on June 30, 1973; agreed to by the House on June 30, 1973 (266–75) and by the Senate on June 30, 1973 (agreed) Signed into law by President Richard Nixon on July 1, 1973

The amendment was defeated 48–42 in the U.S. Senate in August 1972, but revived after the 1972 election. It was reintroduced on January 26, 1973 and approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on May 13.^[2] When it became apparent that the amendment would pass, President Richard Nixon and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger,^[3] lobbied frantically to have the deadline extended.^[4]

However, under pressure from the extreme scrutiny of Watergate, Republicans relented on support for South Vietnam, and the amendment passed the United States Congress in June 1973 by a margin of 325–86 in the House, 73–16 in the Senate.^[5][6] Both of these margins for the amendment's passage were greater than the two-thirds majority required to override a presidential veto,^[5] and Nixon signed it on July 1, 1973.

The last U.S. forces had been withdrawn from South Vietnam in March 1973 pursuant to the Paris Peace Accords.^[7] U.S. bombing had ended on January 28 in Vietnam and in April in Laos, though bombing intensified in Cambodia. US bombing in Cambodia, the only form of US combat action that had continued in any part of Indochina after April, ended on August 15, 1973, the deadline set by the amendment.^[8] Airlift of munitions and food to Cambodia and South Vietnam continued until April 1975.

See also

• Fall of Saigon
• Opposition to the Vietnam War

References

1. Second Supplemental Appropriations Act, 1973, PL 93-50, July 1, 1973, Sec. 307, United States Statutes at Large, Vol. 87, 1973, p. 129.
2. Bresler, Jon, "A Precedent for Cutting Funding and Ending the War in Iraq"
3. Prados, John. Vietnam: The History of an Unwinnable War, 1945–1975. University Press of Kansas, 2009, p. 529.
4. Karnow, Stanley Vietnam: A History, p. 671. (1991).
5. "The Vietnam War The Bitter End 1969 - 1975 (timeline)". The history place. Retrieved September 5, 2006.
6. Peters, Gerhard; Woolley, John T. "Richard Nixon: "Statement on Signing the Second Supplemental and Continuing Appropriations Bills.," July 1, 1973". The American Presidency Project. University of California - Santa Barbara. Retrieved October 16, 2013.
7. Cosmas, Graham A. MACV: The Joint Command in the Years of Withdrawal, 1968-1973. U.S. Army Center of Military History, 2007, pp. 396-400.
8. Berger, Carl, ed., The United States Air Force in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973: An Illustrated Account. Office of Air Force History, 1984, pp. 119, 147.