Congressional Help: Senate Treaty Documents

Senate treaty documents are issued by the Senate when the President asks them to ratify a treaty. They generally contain the text of the Presidential communication supporting ratification of the treaty and the text of the treaty agreement itself.

Once the President submits a treaty to the Senate for ratification, the treaty stays alive and carries the same publication number, regardless of the Congress, until it is ratified, defeated, or withdrawn.

Notes about Senate Treaty Documents

• Until 1991, treaty document content was issued in executive documents lettered sequentially within each session of Congress (e.g., Exec. Doc. A, 91-1).
• Until 1979 (96th Congress), Executive documents with a lettered identification system were not included in the Serial Set.
• Beginning in 1981, the executive document type of publication for treaty materials was replaced by the Senate treaty document publication type and included in the Serial Set.
• Senate treaty documents are numbered consecutively within each Congress (e.g., Treaty Doc. 99-1).