HolyCoast: Obama Might Have to "Temporarily Bypass the Senate" on Treaty Ratification
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Sunday, July 05, 2009

Obama Might Have to "Temporarily Bypass the Senate" on Treaty Ratification

I can't think that this will go over well with the honorable Senators from either party:
With the clock running out on a new US-Russian arms treaty before the previous Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, expires on December 5, a senior White House official said Sunday said that the difficulty of the task might mean temporarily bypassing the Senate’s constitutional role in ratifying treaties by enforcing certain aspects of a new deal on an executive levels and a “provisional basis” until the Senate ratifies the treaty.

"The most ideal situation would be to finish it in time that it could be submitted to the Senate so that it can be ratified," said White House Coordinator for Weapons of Mass Destruction, Security and Arms Control Gary Samore. "If we're not able to do that, we'll have to look at arrangements to continue some of the inspection provisions, keep them enforced in a provisional basis, while the Senate considers the treaty."
If I was in the Senate, especially as a Republican, I'd be pretty ticked about letting the president bypass constitutional requirements. What's next - bypassing the Senate's Supreme Court confirmation requirement?

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