[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 56 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 56

Expressing the sense of the Congress that the United States should not 
                   ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 10, 2005

 Mr. Paul (for himself, Mrs. Jo Ann Davis of Virginia, and Mr. Duncan) 
 submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to 
                the Committee on International Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
Expressing the sense of the Congress that the United States should not 
                   ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty.

Whereas the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (hereafter referred 
        to as the ``Law of the Sea Treaty'') was conceived as a result of the 
        New International Economic Order, a political agenda of the United 
        Nations to transfer wealth and technology from the industrial countries 
        to communist and undeveloped countries;
Whereas, in 1982, President Ronald Reagan announced that the United States would 
        not become a signatory to the Law of the Sea Treaty;
Whereas, in 1994, a separate ``Agreement'' that purported to amend the Treaty 
        was deemed unacceptable to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee;
Whereas the Law of the Sea Treaty affirms the oceans as the ``Common Heritage of 
        Mankind,'' and dictates that oceanic resources should be shared among 
        all mankind;
Whereas the Law of the Sea Treaty would cede 70 percent of the world's surface 
        to the control of the United Nations;
Whereas the Law of the Sea Treaty creates the International Seabed Authority, 
        which will for the first time in history grant a United Nations entity 
        the authority to directly impose fees, which are really taxes, on 
        private enterprises and countries for seabed mining, offshore oil 
        platforms, and other raw material recovery activities;
Whereas the Law of the Sea Tribunal, created by this treaty, has claimed 
        jurisdiction over the territorial seas and economic zones of coastal 
        countries, as well as jurisdiction over the onshore economic activities 
        in coastal countries that might affect the oceans, and could rule in a 
        manner contrary to United States military, counterterrorism, and 
        commercial interests; and
Whereas the Law of the Sea Treaty would be an unprecedented surrender of the 
        sovereignty of the United States to the United Nations and violate the 
        United States principle of ``consent of the governed'': Now, therefore, 
        be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring),  
That it is the sense of the Congress that the United States should not 
ratify the Law of the Sea Treaty.
                                 <all>