[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 2 Introduced in House (IH)]
103d CONGRESS
1st Session
H. CON. RES. 2
Expressing the sense of the Congress that the President or the Congress
should abrogate the Panama Canal Treaties of 1977 and the Neutrality
Treaty and the Congress should repeal the Panama Canal Act of 1979.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
January 5, 1993
Mr. Crane submitted the following bill; which was referred jointly to
the Committees on Foreign Affairs and Merchant Marine and Fisheries
_______________________________________________________________________
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Congress that the President or the Congress
should abrogate the Panama Canal Treaties of 1977 and the Neutrality
Treaty and the Congress should repeal the Panama Canal Act of 1979.
Whereas the Panama Canal is a vital strategic asset of the United States;
Whereas Article 163 of the 1972 Constitution of the Republic of Panama provides
that ``The President alone . . . [shall] conduct foreign relations . . .
. and enter into international treaties and agreements . . .'';
Whereas the Panama Canal Treaties of 1977 were signed by General Omar Torrijos
Herrera, the head of Panama's Defense Forces, who was neither the
President of Panama nor a duly elected official of the Government of
Panama, and not by Demetro B. Lukas, the President of Panama, as
required by the Constitution of Panama;
Whereas this violation of Panama's Constitution regarding competence to conclude
treaties renders the Panama Canal Treaties of 1977 invalid under
international law, including Article 46 of the Vienna Convention on the
Law of Treaties, to which the United States conforms, and therefore
subject to termination by the Republic of Panama at any time;
Whereas the Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the
Panama Canal is also subject to repudiation by the Republic of Panama
because six modifications to the Treaty contained in the resolution of
ratification of the United States Senate, including the DeConcini
Reservation asserting the unilateral right of the United States to
intervene to protect the Panama Canal, were never submitted to a
national plebiscite, as required in Article 274 of the Constitution of
Panama;
Whereas Panama's instruments of ratification concerning the Neutrality Treaty,
which contain counter-reservations denying the right of the United
States to intervene unilaterally in order to protect the Panama Canal,
were never submitted to the United States Senate for approval, in
violation of established procedures for the ratification of treaties
under the Constitution of the United States;
Whereas the Neutrality Treaty confers no explicit legal right upon the United
States either to maintain defense forces in Panama or to enter Panama to
defend the Panama Canal against an external or internal threat after the
year 1999;
Whereas both the United States and the Republic of Panama are signatories to the
charters of the United Nations and the Organization of American States,
which guarantee the territorial inviolability of an independent State
and therefore prohibit unilateral intervention or entry upon the
sovereign territory of another country without its permission;
Whereas the Neutrality Treaty limits the right of the United States to defend
the Panama Canal on the high seas, without express permission to enter
Panamanian territory, and therefore fails to provide adequate protection
for the national security of the United States;
Whereas the Neutrality Treaty does not prohibit the Republic of Panama from
entering into an agreement with a third country, including Cuba or
Nicaragua, for the joint or exclusive operation and control of the
Panama Canal;
Whereas Article III of the Panama Canal Treaty of 1977, providing for the
operation of the Panama Canal through 1999, stipulates that four of the
nine members of the Board of the Panama Canal Commission must be
citizens of Panama who are proposed by the Panamanian Government for
appointment and are subject to removal by the Panamanian Government;
Whereas these provisions in the Panama Canal Treaty regarding the appointment
and removal by Panama of the Panamanian members of the Board improperly
restrict the President's appointment and removal powers under Article
II, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States and are
inconsistent with the Supreme Court's ruling in Buckley vs. Valeo, 424
U.S. 1 (1976), holding that all such members of a United States Federal
agency are ``officers of the United States'' who are subject to Senate
confirmation;
Whereas all ``officers of the United States'' must be citizens of the United
States, and all such officers must therefore take an oath to defend the
Constitution and may be impeached and removed from office for treason,
bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors;
Whereas the Panamanian members of the Board of the Panama Canal Commission are
appointees to a United States Federal Agency and are exercising the
powers and responsibilities of ``officers of the United States,'' but
are foreign nationals and are therefore ineligible under the
Constitution of the United States to serve as members of the Board of
the Commission; and
Whereas the Panama Canal Act of 1979 is the implementing legislation for the
Panama Canal Treaties of 1977: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),
That it is the sense of the Congress that the President or the Congress
should immediately abrogate the Panama Canal Treaties of 1977 and the
Treaty Concerning the Permanent Neutrality and Operation of the Panama
Canal, and that the Congress should repeal the Panama Canal Act of
1979.
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