[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.

                                 <all>