6. Department of State · Notable
Suspend compliance with “agreements” that are really treaties pending Senate consent
Printed page 175 6. Department of State
“The Secretary of State, in cooperation with the Office of the Attorney General and the White House Counsel’s Office, should also conduct a review to identify “agreements” that are really treaty commitments within the ordinary public meaning of the Constitution, and suspend compliance pending presidential transmittal of those agreements to the Senate for advice and consent.”
What has happened
- Not started
Searched; nothing found. No review by the Secretary of State with the Attorney General and the White House Counsel to identify “agreements” that are really treaty commitments has been announced, no compliance has been suspended on that ground, and — decisively — nothing has been transmitted to the Senate for advice and consent: congress.gov's treaty record shows no treaty document transmitted in the 119th Congress since 2025-01-14 and no treaty record touched since 2025-01-15. The treaty review that did happen, under Executive Order 14199, asks whether an instrument is contrary to United States interests, not whether it is constitutionally a treaty, and its output (the memorandum of 2026-01-07) withdraws from instruments rather than transmitting them. State's own Circular 175 instrument of 2026-06-25, Delegation of Authority No. 620, re-delegates the authority to negotiate, conclude and terminate treaties and other international agreements without touching the treaty/agreement line.
No action found yet. This entry is the starting point, not a finding.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- Treaty negative search, run against the record Congress keeps of treaties: congress.gov’s treaty data, sorted by most recent update, holds 785 treaty records, and not one has been updated since 2025-01-15. The only Treaty Document of the 119th Congress is 119-1 (Mutual Legal Assistance), transmitted 2025-01-14 by the previous administration. So inside the window no treaty was transmitted, re-transmitted, withdrawn from the Senate, returned to the President, or acted on. A search for “treaty”, “treaties” and “international agreement” across the Federal Register, White House presidential actions, public laws and bills in Congress returns only the January 2026 withdrawal memorandum, Delegation of Authority No. 620, and unrelated fisheries and tax matters.
- Instruments read and empty on the point: Executive Order 14199 (2025-02-04); the memorandum of 2026-01-07 (66 organizations and the UNFCCC, no transmittals); Delegation of Authority No. 620, Federal Register 2026-13350, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/07/02/2026-13350/negotiation-conclusion-and-termination-of-treaties-and-other-international-agreements
- Related: #471, #472, #474, #475, #476.
- Action
- restrict
- Object
- International agreements that are treaty commitments
- ID
- 473