III 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. RES. 81 

Relating to the establishment of a means for the Senate to provide advice 

and consent regarding the form of an international agreement relating 

to pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2023 

Mr. RISCH (for himself, Mr. BARRASSO, Mr. HAGERTY, Mr. CRUZ, Mrs. 

BLACKBURN, Ms. LUMMIS, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. DAINES, Mr. MARSHALL, 

Mr. CASSIDY, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. THUNE, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. ERNST, and 

Mr. CRAMER) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to 

the Committee on Foreign Relations 

RESOLUTION 

Relating to the establishment of a means for the Senate 

to provide advice and consent regarding the form of 

an international agreement relating to pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. 

Whereas clause 2 of section 2 of article II of the Constitution 

of the United States empowers the President ‘‘by and 

with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make 

Treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur’’; 

Whereas without appropriate and meaningful consultation 

with the Senate— 


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•SRES 81 IS 

(1) the requirement for Senate advice and consent to 

treaties remains unfulfilled; and 

(2) in some cases, executive agreements, political 

agreements, and other arrangements have been improperly used by the executive branch to circumvent the appropriate review of significant agreements by Congress; 

Whereas, as an appropriate exercise of the advice and consent 

power entrusted to the Senate, the Senate may refuse to 

consider legislative measures intended to authorize or appropriate funds to implement international agreements 

which, in the opinion of the Senate, constitute treaties 

under the Constitution of the United States to which the 

Senate has not given its advice and consent to ratification; 

Whereas clause 2 of section 5 of article I of the Constitution 

of the United States, grants plenary power to the Senate 

to ‘‘determine the Rules of its Proceedings’’; 

Whereas an international agreement should take the form of 

a treaty requiring Senate advice and consent and should 

be transmitted by the President to the Senate for the 

Senate’s consideration and approval if— 

(1) the agreement involves commitments or risks affecting the Nation as a whole; 

(2) the agreement is intended to affect State laws; 

(3) the agreement will not take effect until after 

subsequent legislation is enacted by Congress; 

(4) similar agreements were subjected to the advice 

and consent of the Senate; 

(5) similar agreements are typically subject to the 

approval of national legislatures in other countries; 

(6) Congress has expressed a preference regarding 

its involvement in such type of agreement; 


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•SRES 81 IS 

(7) the agreement involves a high degree of formality; 

(8) the agreement is not routine, is not expected to 

have a short duration, and does not need to be promptly 

concluded; or 

(9) if the agreement is intended to implement an existing treaty or make technical amendments to an existing treaty, the relevant Senate committee has previously 

indicated that such implementation or amendments are 

significant enough to require submission to the Senate 

for its advice and consent: 

Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

3 This Resolution may be cited as the ‘‘World Health 

4 Organization Pandemic Treaty Implementation Resolu5 tion’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 

7 The purpose of this Resolution is for the Senate, as 

8 the article I branch of the United States Government that 

9 is entrusted with the Advice and Consent power under 

10 clause 2 of section 2 of article II of the Constitution of 

11 the United States, to establish, through the use of the 

12 rulemaking authority of the Senate, a means for deter13 mining the form that an international agreement, protocol, 

14 legal instrument or agreed outcome with legal force, 

15 signed by the President or by his designee, shall take and 

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1 come a Party or to otherwise be bound under international 

2 law, in whole or in part. 

3 SEC. 3. DECLARATIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Exercising the rulemaking au5 thority of the Senate, the Senate declares, under clause 

6 2 of section 2 of article II of the Constitution of the 

7 United States, that any international convention, agree8 ment, protocol, legal instrument, or agreed outcome with 

9 legal force relating to pandemic prevention, preparedness, 

10 and response drafted by the intergovernmental negotiating 

11 body of the World Health Assembly that— 

12 (1) is intended to be adopted pursuant to arti13 cle 19 or any other provision of the Constitution of 

14 the World Health Organization; and 

15 (2) establishes significant international commit16 ments by the United States under the authority of 

17 World Health Assembly Decision SSA2(5) or any re18 lated decision, 

19 meets 1 or more of the factors set forth in the last clause 

20 of the preamble, indicating that such agreement should 

21 take the form of a treaty requiring Senate approval. 

22 (b) LIMITATION OF AGREEMENT.—The Senate de23 clares that any agreement described in subsection (a)— 


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1 (1) involves a significant political and economic 

2 commitment of the United States to foreign coun3 tries; and 

4 (2) does not legally bind the United States until 

5 after— 

6 (A) the President transmits such agree7 ment to the Senate for its consideration as a 

8 treaty, subject to the applicable constitutional 

9 advice and consent procedures; and 

10 (B) the Senate provides its consent to such 

11 treaty through a resolution of ratification. 

12 SEC. 4. ADVICE. 

13 (a) REFERRAL.—Any agreement described in section 

14 3(a) that is transmitted to the Senate pursuant to section 

15 3(b)(2)(A) shall be referred to the Committee on Foreign 

16 Relations of the Senate for its consideration. 

17 (b) CONSULTATION WITH THE COMMITTEE ON FOR18 EIGN RELATIONS OF THE SENATE.— 

19 (1) CONSULTATIONS DURING NEGOTIATIONS.— 

20 The Secretary of State, or the designee of the Sec21 retary, shall— 

22 (A) at the request of the Chair or the 

23 Ranking Member of the Committee on Foreign 

24 Relations of the Senate, meet with any or all 

25 members of the Committee regarding— 


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1 (i) negotiating objectives; 

2 (ii) the status of negotiations in 

3 progress; and 

4 (iii) the nature of any potential 

5 changes to the laws of the United States 

6 or the administration of such laws that 

7 may be recommended to Congress to carry 

8 out— 

9 (I) an agreement described in 

10 section 3(a); or 

11 (II) any requirement of, amend12 ment to, or recommendation under, 

13 such agreement; and 

14 (B) consult closely and on a timely basis 

15 with, and keep fully apprised of the negotia16 tions, the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

17 the Senate. 

18 (2) CONSULTATIONS BEFORE SIGNING AGREE19 MENT.—Before signing an agreement described in 

20 section 3(a), the President shall— 

21 (A) consult closely, and on a timely basis, 

22 with the members of the Committee on Foreign 

23 Relations of the Senate; and 

24 (B) keep such members fully apprised of 

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1 ply with the provisions of such agreement that 

2 are to take effect on the date on which such 

3 agreement enters into force. 

4 (c) DESIGNATED SENATE ADVISORS.— 

5 (1) DESIGNATION.—The Secretary of State— 

6 (A) shall designate not fewer than 2 mem7 bers of the Committee on Foreign Relations of 

8 the Senate, on a bipartisan basis, to serve as 

9 Senate advisors to the negotiations regarding 

10 an agreement described in section 3(a); and 

11 (B) may designate additional members of 

12 the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Sen13 ate as Senate advisors, after consultation with 

14 the Chair and Ranking Member of the Com15 mittee. 

16 (2) CONSULTATIONS WITH DESIGNATED CON17 GRESSIONAL ADVISORS.—During negotiations re18 garding an agreement described in section 3(a), the 

19 Secretary of State or an officer of the Department 

20 of State who has been confirmed to such position by 

21 the Senate and designated by the Secretary, shall 

22 consult closely and on a timely basis (including im23 mediately before initialing any agreement) with, and 

24 keep fully apprised of the negotiations, the Senate 

25 advisors designated pursuant to paragraph (1). 


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1 (3) ACCREDITATION.—Each Senator designated 

2 as a Senate advisor pursuant to paragraph (1) shall 

3 be accredited by the Secretary of State on behalf of 

4 the President as an official advisor to the United 

5 States delegation to any relevant international con6 ferences, meetings, and negotiating sessions relating 

7 to an agreement described in section 3(a). 

8 SEC. 5. CONSENT. 

9 (a) SUBMISSION OF TREATY TO THE SENATE.—An 

10 international convention, agreement, protocol, legal instru11 ment, or agreed outcome with legal force relating to pan12 demic prevention, preparedness, and response described in 

13 section 3(a) shall not become effective with respect to the 

14 United States until after the President, not later than 60 

15 days after such agreement is signed, submits to the Sen16 ate— 

17 (1) such agreement, including all related mate18 rials, annexes, and other relevant documents; and 

19 (2) a certification that— 

20 (A) the materials submitted pursuant to 

21 paragraph (1) constitute the totality of such 

22 agreement in question; and 

23 (B) the adoption of the treaty is in the 

24 vital national security interest of the United 

25 States. 


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1 (b) DECLARATION.—Exercising the rulemaking au2 thority granted to the Senate under clause 2 of section 

3 5 of article I of the Constitution of the United States, 

4 the Senate declares that it shall not be in order for the 

5 Senate to consider any bill, any joint or concurrent resolu6 tion, any amendment to such bill or amendment, or any 

7 conference report authorizing or providing budget author8 ity to implement, in whole or in part, any international 

9 pandemic preparedness, prevention, and response conven10 tion, agreement, protocol, legal instrument, or agreed out11 come with legal force of the World Health Assembly, the 

12 purpose of which is to implement, in whole or in part, an 

13 agreement described in section 3(a). 

14 (c) SUNSET.—This section shall remain in effect until 

15 the date on which the President submits the agreement 

16 and certification required under subsection (a) to the Sen17 ate as a treaty for its constitutional advice and consent. 

Æ 


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