Yesterday, the U.S. Senate, by division vote, approved the Defense Trade Cooperation Treaties with Britain and Australia. Under a division vote, Senators stand or raise their hands to vote but the numbers of votes and who voted “aye” or “nay” are not recorded. I guess there must be an election coming up or something.

Identical implementing legislation was passed by both the Senate and the House, again without recorded votes, and now await the President’s signature, which is expected shortly. Section 104(a) of the implementing legislation still requires Congressional notification of exports under the treaty that meet the $14 million and $50 million notification thresholds in 22 U.S.C.§2753(d)(3)(A) even though they will no longer be required to be licensed under the treaties. Section 102 of the implementing legislation also defines those defense articles, principally items related to rockets and rocket systems that will not be exempted from license requirements under the treaties.

Many details, including the companies that will be eligible to participate, still remain to be worked out.

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