In the end, the decision to go forward with the treaty rested squarely with Mr. Lott, who, as majority leader, controls the Senate calendar.

The measure is not on the Senate calendar, and Democrats would have an easier time blocking it there.

The same special interests that opposed the wetlands measure kept this one off the Senate calendar.

But there remains a danger that Senate Republican leaders may try to kill the measure quietly by failing to allow time for a vote on the Senate calendar.

Mr. Lott triumphantly pulled campaign reform from the Senate calendar.

The bill was slipped onto the Senate calendar on the last day of the 1999 session, and many Senators had not seen it until an hour before the vote.

The Senate calendar, showing days when the Senate is and is not in session, is available here.

He said there were other ways to get the bill on the Senate calendar besides having the committee vote on it.

Democratic senators insisted that the issue be included on the Senate calendar though they were well short of the 67 votes needed for ratification.

The law was on the Senate calendar for noncontroversial passage.