Thomas Massie added a very interesting amendment to HR1425, the bill to require Senate ratification of WHO pandemic preparedness treaties

Treaties have been handled in a haphazard fashion. Which treaties require Senate ratification? Which features make a treaty consistent or inconsistent with US law?

https://www.congress.gov/congressional-record/volume-170/issue-141/house-section/article/H5173-3

The link above provides the entire discussion in the House on September 11 regarding HR1425 and 3 amendments that were added. Rep. Massie’s was the third amendment.

Do treaties supercede US domestic law? When? Can the President or State Department sign an international agreement and make it law? What is the difference between a treaty simply signed by executive agreement and a ratified treaty? There are lots of questions and the case law is variable, confusing, complicated. However, there is an excellent report that covers these issues here. While I have studied the report, there is no way I can summarize it here. However…

https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/RL32528.pdf

Congressman Massie tried to cut through the fog about how treaties and US domestic law intersect. His amendment said that if a treaty creates obligations for US citizens as a law does, then it needs to be treated as if it is a law.

What that means is that Senate ratification is not enough! It needs to go through both Houses of Congress. This amendment could have massive ramifications. And it passed on a voice vote.

You can spend 5 minutes watching Rep. Massie describe his amendment here:

I am tremendously impressed with this idea. It would save us from future attempts to transfer US sovereignty, or do various bad things in the dark, using negotiators, not representatives. Congressmembers would be forced to commit to a position. It is a very powerful idea. Especially when in recent years, 98% of our treaties were signed by executive agreement, without any Senate ratification.

However, the bad news is that HR1425 will probably not be brought before the Senate, and even if it did pass the Senate, the President would not sign it.

But the bill, and the discussion in Congress, made an important statement. The issue is not going away. It will come back during the next congress. US sovereignty is not going to be transferred to any international organizations in the dark of night, not any time soon. We made enough noise to stop that.