[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 4797]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      REMOVAL OF INJUNCTION OF SECRECY--TREATY DOCUMENT NO. 114-1

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, as in executive session, I ask 
unanimous consent that the injunction of secrecy be removed from the 
following treaty transmitted to the Senate on April 13, 2015, by the 
President of the United States: Protocol Amending the Tax Convention 
with Japan, Treaty Document No. 114-1.
  I further ask that the treaty be considered as having been read the 
first time; that it be referred, with accompanying papers, to the 
Committee on Foreign Relations and ordered to be printed; and that the 
President's message be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The message of the President is as follows:

To the Senate of the United States:
  I transmit herewith, for the advice and consent of the Senate to its 
ratification, the Protocol Amending the Convention between the 
Government of the United States of America and the Government of Japan 
for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal 
Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and a related agreement entered 
into by an exchange of notes (together the ``proposed Protocol''), both 
signed on January 24, 2013, at Washington, together with correcting 
notes exchanged March 9 and March 29, 2013. I also transmit for the 
information of the Senate the report of the Department of State, which 
includes an overview of the proposed Protocol.
  The proposed Protocol was negotiated to bring U.S.-Japan tax treaty 
relations into closer conformity with current U.S. tax treaty policy. 
For example, the proposed Protocol provides for an exemption from 
source-country withholding tax on all cross-border payments of 
interest, and updates the provisions of the existing Convention with 
respect to the mutual agreement procedure by incorporating mandatory 
arbitration of certain cases that the competent authorities of the 
United States and Japan have been unable to resolve after a reasonable 
period of time.
  I recommend that the Senate give early and favorable consideration to 
the proposed Protocol and give its advice and consent to its 
ratification.
                                                        Barack Obama.  
The White House, April 13, 2015.

                          ____________________