[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 76 (Tuesday, June 11, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H3421]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, this morning I, along with 30 other 
Members of the House, filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court to 
block the President from withdrawing from the Anti-Ballistic Missile 
Treaty of 1972.
  The President, by withdrawing from this particular treaty, insists 
that he has the authority to terminate any treaty and can do so without 
the consent of Congress. But according to article VI, clause 2 of the 
Constitution, treaties constitute the supreme law of the land and the 
President does not have the authority to repeal laws.
  Article I, section 1 empowers the Congress to create laws and charges 
the President only with carrying out these laws. Thus, the President's 
termination of the ABM Treaty represents an unconstitutional repeal of 
a law duly enacted by Congress.
  The world's geopolitical trash bin is already littered with treaties 
and agreements unilaterally discarded by the United States under this 
administration. It is critical that we reassert congressional authority 
and end this pattern.

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