Law of the Sea Treaty reported out of committee: timing and prospects for full Senate action unknown.

• Author: Crook, John R.

In late October, the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee favorably reported the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea by a vote of 17 to 4. (In 2004, the treaty was voted out with a unanimous favorable vote, but the Senate leadership did not bring it to a full Senate vote in the days preceding the 2004 presidential elections.)

Prospects for approval by the full Senate are not clear. President Bush, senior officials in his administration, senior military officers, and Senator Richard Lugar, the senior Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, all have voiced strong support for the treaty. (1) Nevertheless, some senators of the president's party oppose it, and some senior Republicans reiterated their opposition following the committee action. Former Senate Republican leader Trent Lott told a news conference that he thought the treaty "undermines U.S. sovereignty" and should be rejected; another senior Republican claimed there were not sufficient Senate votes to provide the necessary two-thirds majority. (2)

The Department of State issued the following statement following the committee's endorsement of the treaty.

We are pleased that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted out the Law of the Sea Convention. This is an important step forward in the Administration's efforts to join this treaty, which the President has urged the Senate to approve during this session of Congress. This Convention has the strong support of United States Federal Agencies, including the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce, and the Interior. This treaty was a victory for U.S. diplomacy--the one chapter that President Reagan disliked was modified in 1994 to overcome all his objections. It would serve both our national security interests, as countless current and former U.S. military officials have stated, by assuring navigational rights of our vessels worldwide, as well as our economic and energy interests, as a wide array of U.S. industries have stated. The treaty would secure U.S. sovereign rights over extensive offshore natural resources, including substantial oil and gas resources in the Arctic. The extended continental shelf areas we stand to gain under...