Title: PAUSE Act
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Preventing Actions Undermining Security without Endorsement Act or the PAUSE Act
This bill prohibits the termination or withdrawal of the United States from certain international agreements (e.g., the New START Treaty or the Constitution of the World Health Organization) without (1) a detailed justification for, and specified certifications related to, the termination or withdrawal; and (2) a joint resolution approving the action.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4304 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 4304

  To prohibit actions to terminate or withdraw the United States from 
    certain international agreements without a joint resolution of 
                   approval, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 23, 2020

   Mr. Van Hollen (for Mr. Markey (for himself and Mr. Van Hollen)) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To prohibit actions to terminate or withdraw the United States from 
    certain international agreements without a joint resolution of 
                   approval, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing Actions Undermining 
Security without Endorsement Act'' or the ``PAUSE Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The COVID-19 global pandemic has highlighted the need 
        for United States leadership to address the full range of 
        international security challenges, which the Government of the 
        United States can do by reaffirming its steadfast commitment to 
        those mutually beneficial treaties and agreements forged with 
        its European and Indo-Pacific allies, along with other states 
        parties.
            (2) For more than 70 years, the United States has shown a 
        bipartisan commitment to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization 
        (NATO), specifically to the principle of collective defense 
        enshrined in Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, signed at 
        Washington April 4, 1949.
            (3) Section 1242 of the National Defense Authorization Act 
        for Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116-92) prohibited the use of 
        funds for the United States withdrawal from the North Atlantic 
        Treaty in recognition that the NATO alliance remains a 
        cornerstone for peace and prosperity throughout the world.
            (4) On January 22, 2019, the House of Representatives 
        passed H.R. 676 (116th Congress) on a 357-22 vote, prohibiting 
        the use of funds for the United States withdrawal from the 
        North Atlantic Treaty, and on December 17, 2019, the Committee 
        on Foreign Relations of the Senate reported out S.J.Res. 4 
        (116th Congress), which, if enacted into law, would require 
        approval of two-thirds of the Senate, or both Houses of 
        Congress, before the President could withdraw the United States 
        from the treaty.
            (5) The Treaty on Open Skies provides a critical 
        confidence-building measure for Euro-Atlantic security to the 
        mutual benefit of the 34 States Parties to the treaty, and the 
        Open Skies Consultative Commission (OSCC) is one of the few 
        remaining operational diplomatic forums from which the United 
        States can engage with the Russian Federation.
            (6) Although the Government of the United States is right 
        to diplomatically press the Government of the Russian 
        Federation to return to full compliance with its obligations 
        under the Treaty on Open Skies, withdrawal or termination of 
        the treaty would deprive United States allies and partners of 
        the benefits derived from observation missions over Russian 
        territory and Russian-occupied Eastern Ukraine, missions that 
        have vastly outnumbered Russian overflights of United States 
        territory since entry into force of the treaty.
            (7) On May 22, 2020, President Trump submitted notice of 
        the decision to withdraw the United States from the Treaty on 
        Open Skies, and, in doing so, failed to comply with section 
        1234(a) of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal 
        Year 2020 (Public Law 116-92), requiring the President to 
        provide notification to Congress 120 days before the provision 
        of notice of intent to withdraw the United States from that 
        treaty.
            (8) On July 7, 2020, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo 
        formally submitted a notice of the United States decision to 
        withdraw from the World Health Organization, which, if such 
        decision takes effect 1 year after that date and in accordance 
        with other requirements under law, will deprive the World 
        Health Organization of robust financial and technical 
        contributions from the United States needed to strengthen the 
        global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and address other 
        health challenges.
            (9) The Mutual Defense Treaty Between the United States and 
        the Republic of Korea, signed at Washington October 1, 1953, 
        the ratification of which the Senate advised and consented to 
        on January 26, 1954, was born from mutual sacrifice during the 
        Korean War, is based on shared values and interests, and 
        remains critical to the national security of the United States 
        nearly 7 decades after its signing.
            (10) A February 2020 report from the Department of State 
        confirmed, in part, that verifiable limits on ``Russia's 
        strategic nuclear force'' under the New START Treaty 
        ``currently contribute to the national security of the United 
        States''.
            (11) A decision by the President to allow the New START 
        Treaty to expire on February 5, 2021, without the United States 
        having first successfully concluded a verifiable and binding 
        agreement in its place, would lead to the United States losing 
        visibility into the location, movement, and disposition of the 
        strategic arsenal of the Russian Federation to the detriment of 
        the national security of the United States and its allies.
            (12) The Constitution of the United States provides 
        Congress an important role in the treaty process, requiring the 
        advice and consent of two-thirds of the Senate for approval of 
        a resolution of ratification.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Appropriate committees of congress.--The term 
        ``appropriate committees of Congress'' means--
                    (A) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee 
                on Foreign Relations, and the Committee on Health, 
                Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate; and
                    (B) the Committee on Armed Services, the Committee 
                on Foreign Affairs, and the Committee on Education and 
                Labor of the House of Representatives.
            (2) Constitution of the world health organization.--The 
        term ``Constitution of the World Health Organization'' means 
        the Constitution of the World Health Organization, done at New 
        York July 22, 1946 (62 Stat. 2679; TIAS 1808).
            (3) Covered international agreement.--The term ``covered 
        international agreement'' means--
                    (A) any international treaty to which the Senate 
                has given its advice and consent to ratification; or
                    (B) the Constitution of the World Health 
                Organization.
            (4) New start treaty.--The term ``New START Treaty'' means 
        the Treaty between the United States of America and the Russian 
        Federation on Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation 
        of Strategic Offensive Arms, signed at Prague April 8, 2010 
        (TIAS 11-205).
            (5) Treaty on open skies.--The term ``Treaty on Open 
        Skies'' means the Treaty on Open Skies, signed at Helsinki 
        March 24, 1992.

SEC. 4. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the President should refrain from taking any action to 
        withdraw or terminate any covered international agreement 
        without proper consultation with, and affirmative approval 
        from, Congress;
            (2) the 1979 Supreme Court decision in Goldwater v. Carter, 
        444 U.S. 996 (1979), is not controlling legal precedent with 
        respect to the role of Congress in the withdrawal or 
        termination of the United States from an international treaty, 
        as the Court directed the lower court to dismiss the complaint 
        and did not address the constitutionality of the decision by 
        President Carter to terminate the Mutual Defense Treaty between 
        the United States of America and the Republic of China, signed 
        at Washington December 2, 1954 (commonly referred to as the 
        ``Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty'');
            (3) the United States should take every action to reinforce 
        its global reputation as a country that fully complies with its 
        obligations under the international treaties to which it is a 
        party; and
            (4) although Congress authorized the President to accept 
        membership for the United States to the World Health 
        Organization in 1948 through the Joint Resolution entitled 
        ``Joint Resolution providing for membership and participation 
        by the United States in the World Health Organization and 
        authorizing an appropriation therefor'', approved June 14, 1948 
        (22 U.S.C. 290 et seq.), that Resolution did not address 
        whether affirmative approval by both Houses of Congress may be 
        required for a United States withdrawal from the Constitution 
        of the World Health Organization to take effect.

SEC. 5. JOINT RESOLUTION OF APPROVAL FOR TERMINATION OR WITHDRAWAL FROM 
              CERTAIN INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.

    No action to terminate or withdraw the United States from any 
covered international agreement may occur unless--
            (1) the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State, or 
        the Secretary of Health and Human Services in the case of the 
        Constitution of the World Health Organization, meet the 
        requirements under section 6; and
            (2) there is enacted into law a joint resolution that 
        approves such action.

SEC. 6. SUBMISSION ON NOTICE OF INTENT TO TERMINATE OR WITHDRAW THE 
              UNITED STATES FROM CERTAIN INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Not less than 120 days before the provision of 
notice of intent to terminate or withdraw the United States from a 
covered international agreement, the Secretary of Defense and the 
Secretary of State, or the Secretary of Health and Human Services in 
the case of the Constitution of the World Health Organization, in 
consultation with the Director of National Intelligence, shall each 
submit to the appropriate committees of Congress--
            (1) a detailed justification for the withdrawal from or 
        termination of the agreement;
            (2) if the justification described in paragraph (1) 
        includes that a state party to the agreement is in material 
        breach of one or more obligations under the agreement, a 
        detailed explanation of the steps taken by that state party to 
        return to compliance with such obligations;
            (3) a certification that--
                    (A) all other state parties to the agreement have 
                been consulted with respect to the justification 
                described in paragraph (1);
                    (B) withdrawal from or termination of the agreement 
                would be in the best national interests of the United 
                States; and
                    (C) all steps taken for withdrawal from or 
                termination of the agreement are in compliance with the 
                agreement; and
            (4) a comprehensive strategy to mitigate against lost 
        capacity of benefits, including plans for a superseding 
        agreement or potential new bilateral or multilateral 
        confidence-building measures.
    (b) Form.--The submission required by subsection (a) shall be 
submitted in unclassified form, but may include a classified annex.
    (c) Applicability to New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty.--This 
section shall apply to a decision by the President to not renew the New 
START Treaty for up to an additional 5 years.

SEC. 7. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.

    Nothing in section 5 or 6 shall be construed as eliminating any 
requirement set out in--
            (1) the Joint Resolution entitled ``Joint Resolution 
        providing for membership and participation by the United States 
        in the World Health Organization and authorizing an 
        appropriation therefor'', approved June 14, 1948 (22 U.S.C. 290 
        et seq.), relating to United States withdrawal from the World 
        Health Organization; or
            (2) section 1234(a) of the National Defense Authorization 
        Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (Public Law 116-92), relating to 
        United States withdrawal from the Treaty on Open Skies.
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