The Power of Treaty Making With the President

Obama Presses For US-Russia Nuclear Pact President Obama hopes to have ratified with U. S. Congress, a new START treaty between the United States and Russia. The President met with Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, where the tow signed a new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that is supposed to cut back on nuclear weapons stock piles by as much as a third (States News Service). The Power of Treaty Making With The President The Constitution empowers the President to make treaties if two-thirds of Senate approve. Even with treaty-making being a shared power, the President is responsible for negotiating with other nations. He decides which nations are to be negotiated with, what the matter should be, and who will represent the nation in the process. With Congressional approval, the President can appoint any person to represent the country in negotiations. The President can send a Professional Diplomatic Corps (Foreign Service Personnel), members of Congress, prominent businesspersons, and even former presidents when negotiating with other nations. Treaties can either ber executory or self-executing. If the treaty is executory, it is not yet performed, completed, fulfilled, or carried out; in other words, it si not performed, either wholly or in part not yet executed. A self-executory treaty is self-acting, meaning, it goes into effect without the need of further action. Presidents may also enter into executive agreements with foreign powers. These are agreements with foreign governments that are made by the President, who acts within his or her own executive powers, whereas, treaties must be approved by the Senate. Executive agreements can also be called Memorandum of Understanding, Memorandum of Arrangements, and Technical Agreements. There are three types of exective agreements: the first is called the treaty-authorized executive agreements. This executive agreement, like a treaty, is usually approved by the Senate. The second type is a Congressionally-authorized executive agreement. Congressional approval occurs with a majority vote in both houses and after the agreement is concluded and executed. The third type is the Solely Executed Agreement. This is used by the President's approval. Justice Jackson gave a three-part analysis to determine when presidential power is applied to executive aggreements: if the President enters into a solely executive agreement where a subject is exclusively executive, Congress may not interfere. If a subject is one where the President and Congress share powers, Congress can and may amend or abolish the agreement. References Obama Presses for US-Russia Nuclear Pact, States News Service, 14 Nov. 2010, Academic One File. Web, March 27, 2012. Hall, Daniel E. and Feldmeier, John P. Constitutional Law: Governmental Powers and Individual Freedoms. Pearson Education Group. 2nd Ed.