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U.S.-China Relations: Policy Issues -- Click to view this document
FBI Director: Appointment and Tenure -- Click to view this document
Legislative Branch Agency Appointments: History, Processes, and Recent Proposals -- Click to view this document
Recess Appointments Made by President Barack Obama -- Click to view this document
Legislative Options for Financing Water Infrastructure -- Click to view this document
Offender Reentry: Correctional Statistics, Reintegration into the Community, and Recidivism -- Click to view this document
Coast Guard Polar Icebreaker Modernization: Background and Issues for Congress -- Click to view this document
Franking Privilege: An Analysis of Member Mass Mailings in the House, 1997-2012 -- Click to view this document
Iraq: Politics, Governance, and Human Rights -- Click to view this document
Moldova: Background and U.S. Policy -- Click to view this document
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles - Benefits to the Warfighter -- Click to view this document
Uninhabited combat aerial vehicles in 2015: providing utility across the spectrum -- Click to view this document
TASK FORCE REPORT: Resilient Military Systems and the Advanced Cyber Threat -- Click to view this document
Progress in Advanced Spectral Analysis of Radioxenon -- Click to view this document
Munitions Detection Using Unmanned Underwater Vehicles Equipped with Advanced Sensors -- Click to view this document
Medium and High Altitude Unmanned Aircraft System Acquisition: An Efficiency Study of Magnitude and Capability -- Click to view this document
Flying Green: Environmental Advances in General Aviation -- Click to view this document
Buy, Build, or Steal: China’s Quest for Advanced Military Aviation Technologies -- Click to view this document
Advanced Space Based Detectors -- Click to view this document

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Why Certain Trade Agreements Are Approved as Congressional-Executive Agreements Rather Than as Treaties

U.S. trade agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), World Trade Organization agreements, and bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) have been approved by majority vote of each house rather than by two-thirds vote of the Senate-that is, they have been treated as congressional-executive agreements rather than as treaties. The congressional-executive agreement has been the vehicle for implementing Congress's long-standing policy of seeking trade benefits for the United States through reciprocal trade negotiations. In a succession of statutes, Congress has authorized the President to negotiate and enter into tariff and nontariff barrier (NTB) agreements for limited periods, while permitting NTB and free trade agreements negotiated under this authority to enter into force for the United States only if they are approved by both houses in a bill enacted into public law and other statutory conditions are met; implementing bills are also accorded expedited consideration under the scheme. Bills: S. 98, H.R. 2832

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