A resolution expressing support for the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 as the blueprint for lasting peace in Northern Ireland.
Latest action. Resolution agreed to in Senate without amendment and with a preamble by unanimous consentDoing business by universal agreement instead of votes. Most Senate floor action happens this way, which is why a single objecting senator has real power.Read the full definition (opens a new tab). (text: continuing resolutionA stopgap law funding the government at existing levels when the annual appropriations bills are not done by October 1.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) S8245)
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)
Reiterates Senate support for the 1998 Good Friday Agreement as the blueprint for a lasting peace in Northern Ireland.
Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) the Irish Republican Army (IRA) must complete its decommissioning and cease to exist as a paramilitary organization; (2) the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) in Northern Ireland must share power with all parties according to the democratic mandate of the Agreement; (3) Sinn Fein must work with the Police Service of Northern Ireland; (4) the leadership of Sinn Fein must insist that those responsible for, and witnesses to, Robert McCartney's murder cooperate with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, and be protected from IRA retaliation; and (5) the government of the United Kingdom (UK) must restore democratic institutions, complete demilitarization, and advance equality and human rights in Northern Ireland.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed Senate without amendment" stage on July 13, 2005. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
A simple resolution is the business of a single chamber. The Senate can adopt it on its own, and it is never sent to the other chamber or to the President.
The record's latest action, on July 13, 2005: Resolution agreed to in Senate without amendment and with a preamble by Unanimous Consent. (text: CR S8245)
What is a simple resolution, exactly?
A simple resolution concerns one chamber only, such as its own rules or an expression of its opinion. The other chamber and the President play no part, and it does not carry the force of law.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
EDWARD KENNEDY (D-MA) introduced it on June 16, 2005, and 9 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 7 Democrats, 2 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on June 16, 2005, 7756 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 7729 days ago, on July 13, 2005.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 109th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2007 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
That deadline applies to this measure too, even though it was never headed for the President's desk.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenatePassed
- HouseAwaiting House vote
- PresidentAwaits both chambers