IV 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 278 

Recognizing the paramount need to address the threat of international terrorism and protect the international security of the United States by 

reducing the number of and accessibility to nuclear weapons and preventing their proliferation, and directing a portion of the resulting savings towards child survival, hunger, and universal education, and calling 

on the President to take action to achieve these goals. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 24, 2009 

Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself and Mr. DANIEL E. LUNGREN of California) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Foreign Affairs 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the paramount need to address the threat of 

international terrorism and protect the international security of the United States by reducing the number 

of and accessibility to nuclear weapons and preventing 

their proliferation, and directing a portion of the resulting savings towards child survival, hunger, and universal 

education, and calling on the President to take action 

to achieve these goals. 

Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation have 

in the past entered into arms control treaties providing 

for reductions of several thousand nuclear delivery systems, including the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty of 


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1991 (START I), the Intermediate Range Nuclear 

Forces Treaty of 1987 (INF), and the Treaty of Moscow 

of 2002; 

Whereas both countries still will retain several thousand nuclear weapons, their delivery systems, and supporting infrastructure at an annual cost of many billions of dollars; 

Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation now 

face different threats to their security since the end of 

the Cold War, notably that of international terrorism; 

Whereas international terrorism, particularly the danger 

posed by a terrorist entity acquiring a nuclear explosive 

device, requires that the countries redouble efforts to prevent the proliferation of such devices and the technology 

to produce them; 

Whereas since 1992, the Cooperative Threat Reduction 

(CTR) program of assistance to the Russian Federation 

and certain other states of the former Soviet Union, initiated under the leadership of Senators Sam Nunn and 

Richard Lugar, has proven an effective and necessary 

tool to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction at a cost far below that of maintaining such 

weapons; 

Whereas additional reductions in nuclear armaments of both 

the United States and the Russian Federation, together 

with other nuclear powers, will— 

(1) meet the objective of the eventual elimination of 

nuclear weapons as prescribed in article VI of the Treaty 

on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and the vision of a nuclear-weapon-free world of Presidents Reagan 

and Gorbachev at the Reykjavik Summit of 1986; 


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(2) reduce the number of nuclear weapons subject to 

diversion or theft by terrorist groups; and 

(3) eventually make available additional funds in the 

range of tens of billions of dollars to further enhance 

international security by reducing world poverty, thereby 

addressing one of the factors contributing to international terrorism; 

Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation, committed by international agreement as well as joint commitments by their respective Presidents, will reduce nuclear armaments in coming years and will encourage 

other countries to do likewise; 

Whereas the Task Force on Department of Energy Nonproliferation Programs with Russia, commonly known as 

the Baker-Cutler Task Force, recommended in its final 

report of January 10, 2001, significant increases in the 

amounts of funding devoted to securing nuclear arsenals 

and other weapons of mass destruction; 

Whereas the savings generated in the long term by significant 

reduction of nuclear armaments will be appreciable, with 

estimates as high as $13,000,000,000 annually, even in 

the face of the real costs of eliminating a large portion 

of the nuclear arsenals of both the Russian Federation 

and the United States; 

Whereas on March 22, 2002, President George W. Bush stated that ‘‘We fight against poverty because hope is an answer to terror. We fight against poverty because opportunity is a fundamental right to human dignity. We fight 

against poverty because faith requires it and conscience 

demands it. We fight against poverty with a growing conviction that major progress is within our reach.’’; 


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Whereas the 2002 National Security Strategy of the United 

States of America noted that ‘‘a world where some live 

in comfort and plenty, while half of the human race lives 

on less than $2 per day, is neither just nor stable. Including all of the world’s poor in an expanding circle of 

development—and opportunity—is a moral imperative 

and one of the top priorities of U.S. international policy’’; 

Whereas the final report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (more commonly 

known as the 9/11 Commission Report), issued on July 

22, 2004, recommended that a comprehensive U.S. strategy to counter terrorism should include policies that encourage development, more open societies, and opportunities that improve the lives of families and enhance prospects for their children’s futures; 

Whereas President Barack Obama has called for substantial 

verifiable reductions in the nuclear arsenals of the United 

States and the Russian Federation; 

Whereas addressing the needs of the very poor in the world, 

particularly children, reduces a source of international 

tension and local despair that contribute to terrorist initiatives; 

Whereas despite significant progress worldwide in reducing 

child mortality rates over time, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that 9,200,000 children under the age of 5 die every year, mostly from preventable and treatable causes; 

Whereas investing in the health and nutrition of children and 

their mothers is a sound economic decision and one of 

the surest ways for a country to set its course toward a 

better future; 


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Whereas international health experts estimate that an additional $5,000,000,000 each year in global assistance for 

proven child survival interventions could save the lives of 

6,000,000 young children each year; 

Whereas in sub-Saharan Africa, UNICEF and other organizations estimate that scaling up a minimum package of 

existing interventions delivered through effective, community-based health services could cut the region’s child 

mortality rate by 30 percent, and the maternal mortality 

rate by 15 percent, at an estimated annual cost of $1,000 

for each life saved; 

Whereas the United States supports child survival programs 

to meet the needs of children in poor countries through 

its contributions to international organizations and support for bilateral and multilateral programs; 

Whereas according to the United Nations World Food Programme, more than 300,000,000 children suffer from 

chronic hunger, and an estimated 121,000,000 of these 

children, two-thirds of whom are girls, do not attend 

school; 

Whereas providing nutritious meals in schools has proven to 

be one of the most effective strategies to increase school 

attendance and enrollment, particularly among girls, decrease the incidence of hunger and malnutrition in 

school-age children, and help create literate, self-sustaining, and healthy societies; 

Whereas the United States supports programs to address 

chronic hunger and malnutrition and promote universal 

education among adolescent and school-age children; 

Whereas the World Food Programme and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations estimate 


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that an additional $5,000,000,000 annually in global assistance for school feeding and other food supports could 

eliminate hunger and malnutrition among the world’s 

school-age children; 

Whereas Americans consistently rank child survival and ending hunger in poor countries as a top priority of United 

States foreign assistance; and 

Whereas President Barack Obama has committed the United 

States to new leadership in the international campaign to 

reduce by half global hunger and poverty by 2015: Now, 

therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, 

2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

3 This resolution may be cited as the ‘‘Global Security 

4 Priorities Resolution’’. 

5 SEC. 2. SENSE OF THE HOUSE. 

6 It is the sense of the House of Representatives that— 

7 (1) the President should continue both negotia8 tions with other countries and unilateral initiatives 

9 to achieve further reductions in nuclear arms to 

10 minimum levels; 

11 (2) the President should agree to the verifiable 

12 reduction of deployed nuclear weapons of both the 

13 United States and the Russian Federation to equal 

14 levels of 1,000, and a total nuclear inventory of not 

15 more than 3,000, by the year 2015; 


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1 (3) the Cooperative Threat Reduction (Nunn2 Lugar) Program should be enhanced and extended 

3 to third countries who request it as a truly coopera4 tive, equally funded program between the United 

5 States and the Russian Federation to assist in the 

6 reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons 

7 throughout the world and to establish an environ8 ment of assurance that nuclear explosive material 

9 will not and cannot be diverted into the hands of 

10 terrorists; and 

11 (4) the funds saved through nuclear arms re12 ductions should be used for cooperative threat reduc13 tion and to alleviate those problems in the world af14 fecting children and families that can contribute to 

15 the support for international terrorism, including— 

16 (A) as a first priority, allocating funds an17 nually to extend the Cooperative Threat Reduc18 tion Program (Nunn-Lugar) at a rate of at 

19 least an additional $1,000,000,000 per year, 

20 and increased as warranted, to dismantle re21 maining weapons, establish verifiable safe22 guards, and improve accounting and physical 

23 security; 

24 (B) increasing United States contributions 

25 to such programs as the Global Partnership 


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1 Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials 

2 of Mass Destruction and the Global Threat Re3 duction Initiative by an additional 

4 $2,500,000,000 annually over a period of 5 

5 years, if and when it can be demonstrated that 

6 these programs can usefully absorb these funds; 

7 (C) in addition to funds already available 

8 for such purposes, providing an additional 

9 $5,000,000,000 over a period of 5 years to en10 hance child survival in the world’s most needy 

11 countries, by scaling up implementation of inte12 grated packages of high-impact and low-cost 

13 health and nutrition interventions at the com14 munity level; and 

15 (D) in addition to funds already available 

16 for such purposes, providing an additional 

17 $1,500,000,000 annually over a period of 5 

18 years for programs under title II of the Agricul19 tural Trade Development and Assistance Act of 

20 1954 (Public Law 480 (Food for Peace)) and 

21 the George McGovern-Robert Dole International 

22 Food for Education and Child Nutrition Pro23 gram, specifically for programs targeted at re24 ducing the incidence of child hunger and inVerDate Nov 24 2008 02:20 Mar 25, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR278.IH HR278

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1 creasing child nutrition and educational oppor2 tunities. 

Æ 


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