II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 200 

To prohibit the conduct of a first-use nuclear strike absent a declaration 

of war by Congress. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 24, 2017 

Mr. MARKEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To prohibit the conduct of a first-use nuclear strike absent 

a declaration of war by Congress. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restricting First Use 

5 of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF POLICY. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Constitution gives Congress the sole 

9 power to declare war. 


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1 (2) The framers of the Constitution understood 

2 that the monumental decision to go to war, which 

3 can result in massive death and the destruction of 

4 civilized society, must be made by the representa5 tives of the people and not by a single person. 

6 (3) As stated by section 2(c) of the War Powers 

7 Resolution (Public Law 93–148; 50 U.S.C. 1541), 

8 ‘‘the constitutional powers of the President as Com9 mander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed 

10 Forces into hostilities, or into situations where im11 minent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated 

12 by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to 

13 (1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory au14 thorization, or (3) a national emergency created by 

15 attack upon the United States, its territories or pos16 sessions, or its armed forces’’. 

17 (4) Nuclear weapons are uniquely powerful 

18 weapons that have the capability to instantly kill 

19 millions of people, create long-term health and envi20 ronmental consequences throughout the world, di21 rectly undermine global peace, and put the United 

22 States at existential risk from retaliatory nuclear 

23 strikes. 


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1 (5) By any definition of war, a first-use nuclear 

2 strike from the United States would constitute a 

3 major act of war. 

4 (6) A first-use nuclear strike conducted absent 

5 a declaration of war by Congress would violate the 

6 Constitution. 

7 (b) DECLARATION OF POLICY.—It is the policy of the 

8 United States that no first-use nuclear strike should be 

9 conducted absent a declaration of war by Congress. 

10 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON CONDUCT OF FIRST-USE NU11 CLEAR STRIKES. 

12 (a) PROHIBITION.—Notwithstanding any other provi13 sion of law, the President may not use the Armed Forces 

14 of the United States to conduct a first-use nuclear strike 

15 unless such strike is conducted pursuant to a declaration 

16 of war by Congress that expressly authorizes such strike. 

17 (b) FIRST-USE NUCLEAR STRIKE DEFINED.—In this 

18 section, the term ‘‘first-use nuclear strike’’ means an at19 tack using nuclear weapons against an enemy that is con20 ducted without the President determining that the enemy 

21 has first launched a nuclear strike against the United 

22 States or an ally of the United States. 

Æ 


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