Senate Consideration of Treaties (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised Dec. 6, 2017 |
| Report Number |
98-384 |
| Authors |
Valerie Heitshusen, Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
The consideration of treaties and nominations constitutes the executive business of the
Senate.1 To conduct executive business, the Senate must resolve into executive session.
Senate Rule XXIX governs executive sessions, generally; Rule XXX addresses
proceedings on treaties.
When the President submits a treaty to the Senate, the treaty and any supporting materials are
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. Paragraph 3 of Senate Rule XXIX requires that
all treaties and “all remarks, votes, and proceedings thereon shall also be kept secret, until the
Senate shall, by their resolution, take off the injunction of secrecy.” At the time the treaty is
referred to committee, the Senate typically agrees by unanimous consent to remove the
“injunction of secrecy.”2
The Foreign Relations Committee can order the treaty reported back to the Senate—favorably,
unfavorably, or without recommendation—or, instead, decline to act on the treaty. If the
committee does not act on the treaty, it is not automatically returned to the President. Treaties,
unlike bills and other legislative measures, remain available to the Senate from one Congress to
the next until they are disposed or the Senate agrees to return them to the President. Paragraph 2
of Rule XXX states in part that “all proceedings on treaties shall terminate with the Congress, and
they shall be resumed at the commencement of the next Congress as if no proceedings had
previously been had thereon.” Thus, if the Foreign Relations Committee fails to report a treaty
before the end of a Congress, the treaty remains before the committee during the next Congress.
If the committee has reported a treaty, but the Senate has not completed floor consideration of it
when the Congress ends, the treaty is recommitted to the committee, and the committee must
report it again before the Senate may consider it on the floor.
If the committee votes to report a treaty, it is placed on the Senate’s Executive Calendar3
and
must lie over on this calendar for one day before possible floor consideration. The Senate may
waive this layover requirement by unanimous consent.
