A WISE SUGGESTION – AT 7:31 P.M. ET:  The president will soon be negotiating with the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, a negotiation that could result in an important agreement.  Senator Lindsey Graham makes a wise suggestion about how that agreement should be considered.  From The Hill: 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Sunday he would encourage President Trump to get Senate approval on any deal he negotiates with North Korea. 

“I would urge the president if he can negotiate an agreement with Kim Jong Un, that he takes that agreement and sends it to the Senate,” Graham said on CBS News's “Face the Nation.”

Graham's comments about a potential agreement with North Korea come as Trump prepares to meet with Kim on June 12 in Singapore. The meeting comes amid thawing relations between the two countries. 

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said if Kim agreed to fully dismantle his nuclear program, the U.S. could offer North Korea economic assistance in the form of sanctions relief and private capital.

“We can create conditions for real economic prosperity for the North Korean people that can rival that of the South. It won’t be U.S. taxpayers,” Pompeo said Sunday.

Graham said he believes that if North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear program, “there would be a lot of support in Congress to give North Korea a better life.”

"Provide aid, relieve sanctions with one condition: that you give up your nuclear weapons program in a verifiable way," he said. "When it comes to North Korea, I think there’d be a lot of congressional support."

COMMENT:  Thoughtful words from Graham.  Yes, submit any agreement to the Senate, as prescribed in the treaty clause of the Constitution.  That is the right way to do it, a contrast with Obama's going around the Senate and making the disgraceful Iran nuclear deal an executive agreement rather than a treaty.  The executive agreement didn't bind the United States to anything once the Obama administration ended.  A treaty has the force of law and the moral force of democracy – the people's representatives in the Senate having final say over whether an agreement is put in force or not.

May 13, 2018