World Health Organization Pandemic Treaty Implementation Resolution

Subjects: Congress

Summary:  <p><b>World Health Organization Pandemic Treaty Implementation Resolution</b></p> <p>This resolution prohibits any international agreement that is drafted by the World Health Organization and relates to pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response from legally binding the United States unless the Senate ratifies the agreement as a treaty. The bill also outlines requirements for negotiating and ratifying such an agreement.</p> <p>The Department of State must (1) consult closely and on a timely basis with the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations while negotiating the agreement, and (2) designate at least two Members of that committee to serve as advisors to the negotiation. The State Department must consult with the advisors immediately before initialing the agreement and keep them fully apprised of the negotiations.</p> <p>Additionally, the President must submit to the Senate the agreement (and all annexes and related materials) within 60 days of signing it. The President must also certify that the submitted materials constitute the totality of the agreement and that adopting the agreement serves U.S. national interests.</p> <p>Members may object to the consideration of any legislation that implements the agreement until the President submits it to the Senate for ratification.</p>

<html><body><pre>[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 81 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

&lt;DOC&gt;






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--

    (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;

    (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
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Resolution may be cited as the ``World Health Organization 
Pandemic Treaty Implementation Resolution''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Resolution is for the Senate, as the article I 
branch of the United States Government that is entrusted with the 
Advice and Consent power under clause 2 of section 2 of article II of 
the Constitution of the United States, to establish, through the use of 
the rulemaking authority of the Senate, a means for determining the 
form that an international agreement, protocol, legal instrument or 
agreed outcome with legal force, signed by the President or by his 
designee, shall take and to which the President intends the United 
States to become a Party or to otherwise be bound under international 
law, in whole or in part.

SEC. 3. DECLARATIONS.

    (a) In General.--Exercising the rulemaking authority of the Senate, 
the Senate declares, under clause 2 of section 2 of article II of the 
Constitution of the United States, that any international convention, 
agreement, protocol, legal instrument, or agreed outcome with legal 
force relating to pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response 
drafted by the intergovernmental negotiating body of the World Health 
Assembly that--
            (1) is intended to be adopted pursuant to article 19 or any 
        other provision of the Constitution of the World Health 
        Organization; and
            (2) establishes significant international commitments by 
        the United States under the authority of World Health Assembly 
        Decision SSA2(5) or any related decision,
meets 1 or more of the factors set forth in the last clause of the 
preamble, indicating that such agreement should take the form of a 
treaty requiring Senate approval.
    (b) Limitation of Agreement.--The Senate declares that any 
agreement described in subsection (a)--
            (1) involves a significant political and economic 
        commitment of the United States to foreign countries; and
            (2) does not legally bind the United States until after--
                    (A) the President transmits such agreement to the 
                Senate for its consideration as a treaty, subject to 
                the applicable constitutional advice and consent 
                procedures; and
                    (B) the Senate provides its consent to such treaty 
                through a resolution of ratification.

SEC. 4. ADVICE.

    (a) Referral.--Any agreement described in section 3(a) that is 
transmitted to the Senate pursuant to section 3(b)(2)(A) shall be 
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate for its 
consideration.
    (b) Consultation With the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
Senate.--
            (1) Consultations during negotiations.--The Secretary of 
        State, or the designee of the Secretary, shall--
                    (A) at the request of the Chair or the Ranking 
                Member of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the 
                Senate, meet with any or all members of the Committee 
                regarding--
                            (i) negotiating objectives;
                            (ii) the status of negotiations in 
                        progress; and
                            (iii) the nature of any potential changes 
                        to the laws of the United States or the 
                        administration of such laws that may be 
                        recommended to Congress to carry out--
                                    (I) an agreement described in 
                                section 3(a); or
                                    (II) any requirement of, amendment 
                                to, or recommendation under, such 
                                agreement; and
                    (B) consult closely and on a timely basis with, and 
                keep fully apprised of the negotiations, the Committee 
                on Foreign Relations of the Senate.
            (2) Consultations before signing agreement.--Before signing 
        an agreement described in section 3(a), the President shall--
                    (A) consult closely, and on a timely basis, with 
                the members of the Committee on Foreign Relations of 
                the Senate; and
                    (B) keep such members fully apprised of the 
                measures other nations have taken to comply with the 
                provisions of such agreement that are to take effect on 
                the date on which such agreement enters into force.
    (c) Designated Senate Advisors.--
            (1) Designation.--The Secretary of State--
                    (A) shall designate not fewer than 2 members of the 
                Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, on a 
                bipartisan basis, to serve as Senate advisors to the 
                negotiations regarding an agreement described in 
                section 3(a); and
                    (B) may designate additional members of the 
                Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate as Senate 
                advisors, after consultation with the Chair and Ranking 
                Member of the Committee.
            (2) Consultations with designated congressional advisors.--
        During negotiations regarding an agreement described in section 
        3(a), the Secretary of State or an officer of the Department of 
        State who has been confirmed to such position by the Senate and 
        designated by the Secretary, shall consult closely and on a 
        timely basis (including immediately before initialing any 
        agreement) with, and keep fully apprised of the negotiations, 
        the Senate advisors designated pursuant to paragraph (1).
            (3) Accreditation.--Each Senator designated as a Senate 
        advisor pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be accredited by the 
        Secretary of State on behalf of the President as an official 
        advisor to the United States delegation to any relevant 
        international conferences, meetings, and negotiating sessions 
        relating to an agreement described in section 3(a).

SEC. 5. CONSENT.

    (a) Submission of Treaty to the Senate.--An international 
convention, agreement, protocol, legal instrument, or agreed outcome 
with legal force relating to pandemic prevention, preparedness, and 
response described in section 3(a) shall not become effective with 
respect to the United States until after the President, not later than 
60 days after such agreement is signed, submits to the Senate--
            (1) such agreement, including all related materials, 
        annexes, and other relevant documents; and
            (2) a certification that--
                    (A) the materials submitted pursuant to paragraph 
                (1) constitute the totality of such agreement in 
                question; and
                    (B) the adoption of the treaty is in the vital 
                national security interest of the United States.
    (b) Declaration.--Exercising the rulemaking authority granted to 
the Senate under clause 2 of section 5 of article I of the Constitution 
of the United States, the Senate declares that it shall not be in order 
for the Senate to consider any bill, any joint or concurrent 
resolution, any amendment to such bill or amendment, or any conference 
report authorizing or providing budget authority to implement, in whole 
or in part, any international pandemic preparedness, prevention, and 
response convention, agreement, protocol, legal instrument, or agreed 
outcome with legal force of the World Health Assembly, the purpose of 
which is to implement, in whole or in part, an agreement described in 
section 3(a).
    (c) Sunset.--This section shall remain in effect until the date on 
which the President submits the agreement and certification required 
under subsection (a) to the Senate as a treaty for its constitutional 
advice and consent.
                                 &lt;all&gt;
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