Chairman Helms Sets the Right Priorities on Pending Treaties: A.B.M. Amendments, Kyoto Accord to Precede the Test Ban

(Washington, D.C.): Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-NC) yesterday signaled his determination to return that Committee to the preeminent role in the conduct and execution of U.S. foreign policy that it has rarely enjoyed since its heyday during the Vietnam War under Sen. William Fulbright (D-AR). Heartfelt congratulations are in order.

In a forceful letter to President Clinton (see the attached reproduction), Senator Helms outlined the priority the Foreign Relations Committee would be assigning to four treaties concluded in recent months: the NATO enlargement agreement; the accords creating new parties to and expanding the scope of the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty; the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Convention on Climate Change; and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. He advises Mr. Clinton that "There are a number of important treaties which the Committee intends to take up during 1998, and we must be assured of your Administration’s cooperation in making certain that these treaties receive a comprehensive examination by the Senate."

Sen. Helms reaffirms his personal determination to secure the Senate’s approval of NATO expansion — but only after satisfying concerns that he and other Senators have expressed ("e.g., ensuring an equitable distribution of costs, limiting Russian influence in NATO decision-making,⁽¹⁾ et.al."). He serves notice, however, that he will have no part of an Administration campaign to "press the Senate for swift ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) immediately following the vote on NATO expansion." Chairman Helms warns that "such a deliberate confrontation would be exceedingly unwise because…the CTBT is very low on the Committee’s list of priorities" in light of the fact that it "has no chance of entering into force for a decade or more." (Emphasis in the original.)

Senator Helms observes that, "by contrast, the issues surrounding the ABM Treaty and the Kyoto Protocol are far more pressing (e.g., the growing threat posed by nuclear, biological or chemical-tipped missiles, and the potential impact of the Kyoto Protocol on the U.S. economy)." He concludes by stating that "When the Administration has submitted [the latter] treaties, and when the Senate has completed its consideration of them, and only then, will the Foreign Relations Committee consider the CTBT." (Emphasis in the original.)

The Center for Security Policy applauds Chairman Helms’ strategic two-fer: 1) his determination to ensure that the Senate is given an opportunity to address as soon as practicable the profoundly flawed ABM Treaty amendments and Kyoto Protocol and 2) his assurance that the no-less-defective Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty will remain unratified for the foreseeable future.

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1. See the Center’s Decision Brief entitled Primakov Watch: Destroying NATO From Within (No. 98-D 14, 22 January 1998).