Following Ghouta chemical attacks in Syria in August 2013, the United States Congress began debating a proposed Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against the Government of Syria to Respond to Use of Chemical Weapons (S.J.Res 21), although votes on the resolution were indefinitely postponed amid opposition from many legislators[5] and tentative agreement between Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin on an alternative proposal, under which Syria would declare and surrender its chemical weapons to be destroyed under international supervision.[6]