Senate Consideration of Treaties
Betsy Palmer
Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process
September 15, 2009
Congressional Research Service
7-5700
www.crs.gov
98-384
CRS Report for Congress
P
repared for Members and Committees of Congress
Senate Consideration of Treaties
Summary
The consideration of treaties and nominations constitutes the executive business of the Senate.
The Senate conducts executive business only after it has resolved into executive session. Senate
Rule XXIX is concerned with executive sessions; Rule XXX discusses proceedings on treaties.
This report is one of a series of CRS reports on aspects of the legislative process, and it will be
updated to reflect any change in the rules and practices of the Senate regarding consideration of
treaties.
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Senate Consideration of Treaties
he consideration of treaties and nominations constitutes the executive business of the
Senate. To conduct executive business, the Senate must resolve into executive session.
T Senate Rule XXIX is concerned with executive sessions; Rule XXX discusses proceedings
on treaties.
When the President submits a treaty to the Senate, the treaty, and any supporting materials, are
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. Paragraph 3 of Senate Rule XXIX requires that
all treaties and “all remarks, votes, and proceedings thereon shall also be kept secret, until the
Senate shall, by their resolution, take off the injunction of secrecy.” At the time the treaty is
referred to committee, the Senate typically agrees by unanimous consent to remove the
“injunction of secrecy.”1
The Foreign Relations Committee has the options of ordering the treaty reported back to the
Senate—favorably, unfavorably, or without recommendation—or of declining to act on the treaty.
If the committee does not act on the treaty, it is not returned to the President. Treaties, unlike bills
and other legislative measures, remain available to the Senate from one Congress to the next,
until they are disposed of or withdrawn by the President. Paragraph 2 of Rule XXX states in part
that “all proceedings on treaties shall terminate with the Congress, and they shall be resumed at
the commencement of the next Congress as if no proceedings had previously been had thereon.”
Thus, if the Foreign Relations Committee fails to report a treaty before the end of a Congress, the
treaty remains before the committee during the next Congress. If the committee has reported a
treaty but the Senate has not completed floor consideration of it when the Congress ends, the
treaty is recommitted to the committee, and the committee must report it again before the Senate
may consider it on the floor.
If the committee votes to report a treaty, it is placed on the Senate’s Executive Calendar and must
lie over on this calendar for one day before floor consideration. The Senate may waive this
layover requirement by unanimous consent.
When the Senate is prepared to consider the treaty, the majority leader typically makes a
unanimous consent request or a non-debatable motion while in legislative session that the Senate
go into executive session for the purpose of considering that treaty. If the Senate already is in
executive session, or if the Senate agrees simply to resolve into executive session without a
purpose for doing so being specified in the motion, then a motion made in executive session to
proceed to any but the first item listed on the Executive Calendar is debatable, meaning that the
motion to proceed could be subject to extended debate and perhaps the cloture procedures under
Rule XXII.
Once in executive session, the Senate first considers the text of the treaty itself, just as it would
consider the text of a bill in legislative session. The treaty is amendable and it is open for
amendment at any point, with any amendments proposed by the Foreign Relations Committee
being considered first. When there is no further debate or amendment, the Senate does not vote on
approving the treaty. Instead, the Senate takes up a resolution of ratification, by which the Senate
formally gives its advice and consent, empowering the President to proceed with the ratification
of the treaty. This un-numbered resolution typically states: “Resolved (two-thirds of the Senators
present concurring therein), That the Senate advise and consent to the ratification” of the treaty in
1 See, for example, Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, “Removal of Injunction of Secrecy - Treaty Document No. 108-2,” remarks in
Senate, Congressional Record, daily edition, February 11, 2003, p. S2227.
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Senate Consideration of Treaties
question. When the resolution of ratification is presented to the Senate, it incorporates any
amendments to the treaty that the Senate had approved.
One day is required to elapse between the time the Senate completes action on the treaty itself
and the time it begins consideration of the resolution of ratification, although this requirement
also is frequently waived by unanimous consent. After the Senate has begun considering this
resolution, amendments proposing to change the text of the treaty itself no longer are in order.
Senators may amend the resolution of ratification, however, by attaching to it reservations,
declarations, statements, or understandings that can affect the interpretation or implementation of
the treaty. Again, the Senate first considers any reservation or other proposition that the Foreign
Relations Committee has reported.
Under Article II, Section 2 of the Constitution, the final vote on agreeing to the resolution of
ratification, with whatever reservations or other propositions may have been attached to it,
requires a vote of two-thirds of the Senators present and voting (a quorum being present). A two-
thirds vote also is required to agree to a motion to postpone indefinitely further consideration of
the treaty and accompanying resolution, because adopting that motion has the effect of disposing
of the treaty permanently. All other motions prior to final action, including those proposing treaty
amendments or reservations, require only simple majority votes. Treaties, resolutions of
ratification, reservations, and other propositions are all debatable under the normal rules of the
Senate, and they are subject to the Senate’s cloture rule, Rule XXII. When cloture is invoked on a
resolution of ratification, action on all amendments and reservations must be completed before a
vote on ratification under the rule’s 30-hour time limit.
Frequently, the Senate agrees by unanimous consent to dispense with consideration of the treaty
itself and proceeds immediately to consider the resolution of ratification.
For additional information, see Riddick’s Senate Procedure, pp. 832-842 and 1294-1310; and
Treaties and Other International Agreements: The Role of the United States Senate, a committee
print of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (S.Prt. 106-71) is available at
http://www.congress.gov/Senate/lists/html.
Author Contact Information
Betsy Palmer
Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process
bpalmer@crs.loc.gov, 7-0381
Acknowledgments
This report was originally written by retired CRS Senior Specialist Stanley Bach.
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