[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4304 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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116th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4304
To prohibit actions to terminate or withdraw the United States from
certain international agreements without a joint resolution of
approval, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 23, 2020
Mr. Van Hollen (for Mr. Markey (for himself and Mr. Van Hollen))
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the
Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit actions to terminate or withdraw the United States from
certain international agreements without a joint resolution of
approval, and for other purposes.
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 ``Preventing Actions Undermining
Security without Endorsement Act'' or the ``PAUSE Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The COVID-19 global pandemic has highlighted the need
for United States leadership to address the full range of
international security challenges, which the Government of the
United States can do by reaffirming its steadfast commitment to
those mutually beneficial treaties and agreements forged with
its European and Indo-Pacific allies, along with other states
parties.
(2) For more than 70 years, the United States has shown a
bipartisan commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization
(NATO), specifically to the principle of collective defense
enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed at
Washington April 4, 1949.
(3) Section 1242 of the National Defense Authorization Act
for Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116-92) prohibited the use of
funds for the United States withdrawal from the North Atlantic
Treaty in recognition that the NATO alliance remains a
cornerstone for peace and prosperity throughout the world.
(4) On January 22, 2019, the House of Representatives
passed H.R. 676 (116th Congress) on a 357-22 vote, prohibiting
the use of funds for the United States withdrawal from the
North Atlantic Treaty, and on December 17, 2019, the Committee
on Foreign Relations of the Senate reported out S.J.Res. 4
(116th Congress), which, if enacted into law, would require
approval of two-thirds of the Senate, or both Houses of
Congress, before the President could withdraw the United States
from the treaty.
(5) The Treaty on Open Skies provides a critical
confidence-building measure for Euro-Atlantic security to the
mutual benefit of the 34 States Parties to the treaty, and the
Open Skies Consultative Commission (OSCC) is one of the few
remaining operational diplomatic forums from which the United
States can engage with the Russian Federation.
(6) Although the Government of the United States is right
to diplomatically press the Government of the Russian
Federation to return to full compliance with its obligations
under the Treaty on Open Skies, withdrawal or termination of
the treaty would deprive United States allies and partners of
the benefits derived from observation missions over Russian
territory and Russian-occupied Eastern Ukraine, missions that
have vastly outnumbered Russian overflights of United States
territory since entry into force of the treaty.
(7) On May 22, 2020, President Trump submitted notice of
the decision to withdraw the United States from the Treaty on
Open Skies, and, in doing so, failed to comply with section
1234(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2020 (Public Law 116-92), requiring the President to
provide notification to Congress 120 days before the provision
of notice of intent to withdraw the United States from that
treaty.
(8) On July 7, 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
formally submitted a notice of the United States decision to
withdraw from the World Health Organization, which, if such
decision takes effect 1 year after that date and in accordance
with other requirements under law, will deprive the World
Health Organization of robust financial and technical
contributions from the United States needed to strengthen the
global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and address other
health challenges.
(9) The Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and
the Republic of Korea, signed at Washington October 1, 1953,
the ratification of which the Senate advised and consented to
on January 26, 1954, was born from mutual sacrifice during the
Korean War, is based on shared values and interests, and
remains critical to the national security of the United States
nearly 7 decades after its signing.
(10) A February 2020 report from the Department of State
confirmed, in part, that verifiable limits on ``Russia's
strategic nuclear force'' under the New START Treaty
``currently contribute to the national security of the United
States''.
(11) A decision by the President to allow the New START
Treaty to expire on February 5, 2021, without the United States
having first successfully concluded a verifiable and binding
agreement in its place, would lead to the United States losing
visibility into the location, movement, and disposition of the
strategic arsenal of the Russian Federation to the detriment of
the national security of the United States and its allies.
(12) The Constitution of the United States provides
Congress an important role in the treaty process, requiring the
advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate for approval of
a resolution of ratification.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term
``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
(A) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee
on Foreign Relations, and the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and
(B) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee
on Foreign Affairs, and the Committee on Education and
Labor of the House of Representatives.
(2) Constitution of the world health organization.--The
term ``Constitution of the World Health Organization'' means
the Constitution of the World Health Organization, done at New
York July 22, 1946 (62 Stat. 2679; TIAS 1808).
(3) Covered international agreement.--The term ``covered
international agreement'' means--
(A) any international treaty to which the Senate
has given its advice and consent to ratification; or
(B) the Constitution of the World Health
Organization.
(4) New start treaty.--The term ``New START Treaty'' means
the Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian
Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation
of Strategic Offensive Arms, signed at Prague April 8, 2010
(TIAS 11-205).
(5) Treaty on open skies.--The term ``Treaty on Open
Skies'' means the Treaty on Open Skies, signed at Helsinki
March 24, 1992.
SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the President should refrain from taking any action to
withdraw or terminate any covered international agreement
without proper consultation with, and affirmative approval
from, Congress;
(2) the 1979 Supreme Court decision in Goldwater v. Carter,
444 U.S. 996 (1979), is not controlling legal precedent with
respect to the role of Congress in the withdrawal or
termination of the United States from an international treaty,
as the Court directed the lower court to dismiss the complaint
and did not address the constitutionality of the decision by
President Carter to terminate the Mutual Defense Treaty between
the United States of America and the Republic of China, signed
at Washington December 2, 1954 (commonly referred to as the
``Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty'');
(3) the United States should take every action to reinforce
its global reputation as a country that fully complies with its
obligations under the international treaties to which it is a
party; and
(4) although Congress authorized the President to accept
membership for the United States to the World Health
Organization in 1948 through the Joint Resolution entitled
``Joint Resolution providing for membership and participation
by the United States in the World Health Organization and
authorizing an appropriation therefor'', approved June 14, 1948
(22 U.S.C. 290 et seq.), that Resolution did not address
whether affirmative approval by both Houses of Congress may be
required for a United States withdrawal from the Constitution
of the World Health Organization to take effect.
SEC. 5. JOINT RESOLUTION OF APPROVAL FOR TERMINATION OR WITHDRAWAL FROM
CERTAIN INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.
No action to terminate or withdraw the United States from any
covered international agreement may occur unless--
(1) the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State, or
the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the case of the
Constitution of the World Health Organization, meet the
requirements under section 6; and
(2) there is enacted into law a joint resolution that
approves such action.
SEC. 6. SUBMISSION ON NOTICE OF INTENT TO TERMINATE OR WITHDRAW THE
UNITED STATES FROM CERTAIN INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.
(a) In General.--Not less than 120 days before the provision of
notice of intent to terminate or withdraw the United States from a
covered international agreement, the Secretary of Defense and the
Secretary of State, or the Secretary of Health and Human Services in
the case of the Constitution of the World Health Organization, in
consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, shall each
submit to the appropriate committees of Congress--
(1) a detailed justification for the withdrawal from or
termination of the agreement;
(2) if the justification described in paragraph (1)
includes that a state party to the agreement is in material
breach of one or more obligations under the agreement, a
detailed explanation of the steps taken by that state party to
return to compliance with such obligations;
(3) a certification that--
(A) all other state parties to the agreement have
been consulted with respect to the justification
described in paragraph (1);
(B) withdrawal from or termination of the agreement
would be in the best national interests of the United
States; and
(C) all steps taken for withdrawal from or
termination of the agreement are in compliance with the
agreement; and
(4) a comprehensive strategy to mitigate against lost
capacity of benefits, including plans for a superseding
agreement or potential new bilateral or multilateral
confidence-building measures.
(b) Form.--The submission required by subsection (a) shall be
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
(c) Applicability to New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.--This
section shall apply to a decision by the President to not renew the New
START Treaty for up to an additional 5 years.
SEC. 7. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.
Nothing in section 5 or 6 shall be construed as eliminating any
requirement set out in--
(1) the Joint Resolution entitled ``Joint Resolution
providing for membership and participation by the United States
in the World Health Organization and authorizing an
appropriation therefor'', approved June 14, 1948 (22 U.S.C. 290
et seq.), relating to United States withdrawal from the World
Health Organization; or
(2) section 1234(a) of the National Defense Authorization
Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116-92), relating to
United States withdrawal from the Treaty on Open Skies.
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