Date of publication: July 18, 2002
Source: Washington Post
Excerpt from article:
In an almost unheard-of challenge to presidential prerogative, the Democratic Senate is preparing to consider ratification of an international treaty the White House has indicated it may not want approved.
Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.) has scheduled a committee vote today on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, a 23-year-old United Nations document that was signed by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 and has languished ever since.
Six months ago, the Bush administration told the Senate that the convention was "generally desirable and should be approved." But last week, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell wrote the committee to say that although it still supports the document's "general goal of eradicating invidious discrimination across the globe," the administration now feels its "vagueness" and "complexity" require a review by the Justice Department....