Senate Foreign Relations Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) announced the decision during a high-level hearing with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey. Clinton on Wednesday urged the Senate to pass the treaty “this year,” suggesting the Democratic-led Senate could do so right after the presidential election — regardless of who wins.

“I think it's a bad idea,” said Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.). “I don't like to do something in the lame-duck session, particularly something that is as dangerous to our sovereignty as this is.”

Inhofe said he expects Republicans to gain seats in the elections, which would allow defeated Democrats to vote for the treaty. That possibility is especially controversial because it comes on the heels of the Senate's passage of the new START nuclear disarmament treaty with Russia in December 2010.

“Ramming the START treaty through the lame-duck session with votes from politicians who had just lost at the ballot box was a shameful exercise,” said Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), “and it would be wrong to repeat that mistake" with the Law of the Sea Treaty.