[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 663 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 663

 To provide that the provisions of Executive Order 13107, relating to 
the implementation of certain human rights treaties, shall not have any 
                             legal effect.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 10, 1999

 Mr. Barr of Georgia introduced the following bill; which was referred 
              to the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide that the provisions of Executive Order 13107, relating to 
the implementation of certain human rights treaties, shall not have any 
                             legal effect.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``United States Federal Government 
Preservation Act of 1999''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Article II, section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution of 
        the United States provides that ``He [the President] shall have 
        Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to 
        make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present 
        concur;''.
            (2) The International Covenant on Civil and Political 
        Rights (ICCPR), the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, 
        Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT), the 
        Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial 
        Discrimination (CERD), and other relevant treaties concerned 
        with the protection and promotion of human rights are treaties 
        with respect to which the Senate has given its advice and 
        consent to ratification, however, the votes for such advice and 
        consent to ratification were not formal roll call votes but 
        instead voice votes which do not provide a record as to how 
        each individual Senator voted on each of these treaties.
            (3) On December 10, 1998, President Clinton issued 
        Executive Order 13107 (63 Fed. Reg. 68991 (December 15, 1998)) 
        which states in part ``[i]t shall be the policy and practice of 
        the Government of the United States, being committed to the 
        protection and promotion of human rights and fundamental 
        freedoms, fully to respect and implement its obligations under 
        international human rights treaties to which it is a party, 
        including the ICCPR, the CAT, and the CERD.''.
            (4) Executive Order 13107 also states that ``[a]ll 
        executive departments and agencies . . . shall maintain a 
        current awareness of United States international human rights 
        obligations that are relevant to their functions and shall 
        perform such functions so as to respect and implement those 
        obligations fully. The head of each agency shall designate a 
        single contact officer who will be responsible for overall 
        coordination of the implementation of this order.''.
            (5) Executive Order 13107 also establishes an Interagency 
        Working Group in Human Rights Treaties for the ``purpose of 
        providing guidance, oversight, and coordination with respect to 
        questions concerning the adherence to and implementation of 
        human rights obligations and related matters.''.

SEC. 3. NULLIFICATION OF EXECUTIVE ORDER 13107.

    The provisions of Executive Order 13107 (63 Fed. Reg. 68991 
(December 15, 1998); relating to the implementation of certain human 
rights treaties) shall not have any legal effect.
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