Obama Skirts Congress, Seeks UN Resolution Banning Nuclear Tests

Putting aside the horrifying fact that Obama is basically saying – once again – that the will of the UN overrides the will of Congress and the American people, his push for a resolution banning nuclear tests naively assumes that, as was the case with his Iran deal, that other parties will act in good faith and in accordance with the terms of it. As Senator Bob Corker points out, such a measure will do nothing to restrain Russia and China from testing new terrifying atomic weapons and everything to keep the US from being able to defend itself against such a possible threat:

“Corker said that regardless of one’s view on nuclear testing, all senators should be outraged that the administration has now changed tactics, choosing to abandon the effort to get the treaty ratified in favor of going through the United Nations. As with the Iran deal, there’s very little Congress can do to prevent the administration from executing its new strategy.

The White House decided not to submit the Iran deal to the Senate as a treaty, calling it an executive agreement. Republicans introduced a congressional resolution that would have expressed disapproval of the deal and potentially made the deal’s implementation more difficult. That resolution failed along a largely party-line vote. Said Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.): ‘The administration’s intention to once again not use the Constitutional process of ratification in the Senate, choosing the undemocratic method of going to an international organization to circumvent the democratic process, is precisely what happened between the U.S. and the Ayatollah.’

Several lawmakers and staffers acknowledged that another congressional effort to stop Obama’s new U.N. plan would have little chance of success, especially because of the distractions of the election season and the shortage of days lawmakers are in session this fall.

‘They devised a plan to keep the United States Senate and Congress in general from weighing in on an important agreement that’s going to limit our ability to ensure our nuclear deterrent is in place,’ Corker said.

Congressional aides briefed on the issue are already devising a list of options for how Congress can express its anger to the administration and perhaps exert some penalty, if preventing the move proves impossible. Options include cutting U.S. funding for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, an international body that receives about a quarter of its money from U.S. taxpayers.

Lawmakers and staffers also point to several administration officials who have publicly said they favored working with Congress on the issue. Only last September, undersecretary of state Rose Gottemoeller gave a speech during the U.N. General Assembly promising the administration would work with Congress on the test ban treaty.

‘Ratification of the CTBT will require debate, discussion, questions, briefings, trips to the National Labs and other technical facilities, hearings and more, as was the case with the New START Treaty,’ she said. ‘The Senators should have every opportunity to ask questions — many, many questions — until they are satisfied. That is how good policy is made and that is how treaties get across the finish line.’

The president’s push for U.N. action on nuclear testing came after months of debate inside his administration over how to advance his nuclear non-proliferation agenda. The president decided to move forward with this item after meeting with his entire National Security Council at the White House. Other nuclear policy changes could be decided and announced in the coming months.

The Obama administration and Congress share the blame for the lack of cooperation between the two branches. But the White House is cementing a bad precedent that will impact the next Congress and the next administration.”

Source: Washington Post