William Helms: “I noticed that two or three people said, ``Helms doesn't do anything in the Foreign Relations Committee except hold up…”

“I noticed that two or three people said, ``Helms doesn't do anything in the Foreign Relations Committee except hold up treaties.'' Well, let's look at the record. In the past 2 years--that is to say the 104th Congress--the Foreign Relations Committee has considered 39 treaties, and the Senate approved 38 of them--the one exception being this chemical weapons treaty, which the administration pulled down just before it was to become the pending business in the Senate. I will read the list that I am going to put into the Record: Consideration of the CWC, in the context of the work of the committee in carrying out its responsibility to us and consent to ratification as set forth in article II, section 2, of the Constitution. Treaties considered during the 104th Congress included bilateral tax and investment treaties, important to protecting and furthering U.S. business interests abroad; 14 treaties strengthening U.S. law enforcement through extradition of criminals and access to criminal evidence in other countries.”