It’s not every day that one house of Congress initiates legislation that tells the other house what its job should be. But that’s exactly what the House bill, No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act, does.
The legislation, which cleared by the Rules Committee on Monday, would prohibit U.S. acceptance of a World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic prevention, preparedness and response agreement unless approved as a treaty by a two-thirds vote of the Senate.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee reported the measure July 11 by a party-line vote of 24-23. The bill’s title minces no words as to what it’s about: the “No WHO Pandemic Preparedness Treaty Without Senate Approval Act” — not an easily manageable acronym.
The bottom line is that any agreement reached on pandemic preparedness and response by the World Health Assembly, the governing body of the WHO, is “deemed to be a treaty that is subject to the constitutional requirement for Senate ratification by a two-thirds vote.
But the bill skips one essential: Article Il, Section 2 of the Constitution provides that the president “shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate to make treaties….” As the 2022 edition of The Constitution Annotated makes clear, the treaty-making power begins with executive negotiations with other nations. Once these are completed, “the President submits the treaty to the Senate.” The president’s decision to submit it for Senate approval is discretionary.