IA

107TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. J. RES. 97

Calling for an end to the threat of nuclear destruction.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 11, 2002

Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. LEE, Mr. FILNER, Mr. HOLT,

Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. SANDERS, Mrs. MINK

of Hawaii, Mr. HINCHEY, and Mrs. JONES of Ohio) introduced the following joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on International Relations

JOINT RESOLUTION

Calling for an end to the threat of nuclear destruction.

Whereas more than ten years after the end of the Cold War,

the threat of nuclear destruction is still mounting: the

United States and Russia have refused to give up nuclear

arms, other countries are producing nuclear weapons,

and terrorists are trying to acquire those weapons;

Whereas poorly guarded nuclear warheads and nuclear material in the states of the former Soviet Union could fall

into the hands of terrorists;

Whereas the executive branch of the United States government is developing nuclear ‘‘bunker busters’’ and threatening to use them against countries that do not possess

nuclear weapons;
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Whereas the risk of nuclear war between India and Pakistan

is rising;

Whereas the treaty between the United States and Russia

that was signed in May 2002 reduces deployed strategic

warheads to 2200 each but nonetheless leaves both countries threatened with ‘‘assured destruction’’ and allows

them each to maintain arsenals of more than 10,000 active, inactive, strategic, and tactical warheads;

Whereas the dangers posed by huge nuclear arsenals, threats

of using nuclear weapons, proliferation of nuclear weapons, and terrorism are linked since the refusal of the

countries possessing nuclear weapons to disarm them

fuels proliferation, and proliferation makes nuclear materials more accessible to terrorists;

Whereas the events of September 11, 2001, brought home to

the people of the United States what it means to experience a catastrophic attack, yet the horrifying losses that

day were only a fraction of what any country would suffer if a single nuclear weapon were used on one of its

major cities; and

Whereas the policy of the United States on nuclear weapons

should focus on safety from nuclear destruction, and this

goal can be attained only by reducing and ultimately

eliminating nuclear arms under binding agreements:

Now, therefore, be it

1 Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives

2 of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 That the Congress—

4 (1) calls on the President of the United States

5 and the Government of Russia to fulfill the commit-
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1 ments of the United States and Russia under the

2 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons

3 to work with the other nuclear powers toward elimi4 nating nuclear weapons in stages that are subjected

5 to careful inspection and verification; and

6 (2) in taking steps to carry out paragraph (1),

7 the United States—

8 (A) should renounce the first use of nu9 clear weapons and permanently end the develop10 ment, testing, and production of nuclear war11 heads;

12 (B) should seek an agreement with Russia

13 that—

14 (i) provides for the mutual and

15 verified destruction of nuclear weapons

16 that are withdrawn under treaties that

17 have been signed; and

18 (ii) increases the resources available

19 in the United States and in the states of

20 the former Soviet Union to secure nuclear

21 warheads and nuclear material and to im22 plement the destruction of those warheads

23 and material;

24 (C) should strengthen nonproliferation ef25 forts by—
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1 (i) ratifying the Comprehensive Test

2 Ban Treaty;

3 (ii) refraining from providing to North

4 Korea, and urging Russia to refrain from

5 providing to Iran, nuclear reactor tech6 nologies that can be exploited for nuclear

7 weapons purposes; and

8 (iii) supporting United Nations in9 spections of suspected nuclear weapons fa10 cilities and nuclear weapons materials in

11 Iraq; and

12 (iv) participating in locating and re13 ducing fissile material worldwide and nego14 tiating a ban on its production;

15 (D) should enter into an agreement with

16 the other nuclear powers—the United Kingdom,

17 France, Russia, the People’s Republic of China,

18 India, Pakistan, and Israel—to take nuclear

19 weapons off hair-trigger alert, thereby reducing

20 the risk of the accidental or unauthorized use

21 of the warheads and preparing for the ultimate

22 elimination of the warheads; and

23 (E) should initiate talks on further reduc24 tions of nuclear weapons, beginning with reduc25 tions by the United States and Russia to 1,000
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1 warheads each and proceeding to further reduc2 tions of the nuclear warheads held by all of the

3 nuclear powers.

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