IV 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. RES. 302 

Embracing the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of 

Nuclear Weapons. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 10, 2019 

Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself and Mr. BLUMENAUER) submitted the following 

resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and 

in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

RESOLUTION 

Embracing the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the 

Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. 

Whereas since the height of the Cold War, the United States 

and Russia have dismantled more than 50,000 nuclear 

warheads, but 14,500 of these weapons still exist and 

pose an intolerable risk to human survival; 

Whereas 95 percent of these weapons are in the hands of the 

United States and Russia and the rest are held by seven 

other countries: China, France, Israel, India, North 

Korea, Pakistan, and the United Kingdom; 

Whereas the use of even a tiny fraction of these weapons 

could cause worldwide climate disruption and global famine—for example, as few as 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs, 


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•HRES 302 IH 

small by modern standards, if used to attack urban industrial targets would put at least 5,000,000 tons of soot 

into the upper atmosphere and cause climate disruption 

across the planet, cutting food production and putting 

2,000,000,000 people at risk of starvation; 

Whereas according to scientific studies and models, a largescale nuclear war could kill hundreds of millions of people 

directly and cause unimaginable environmental damage 

and catastrophic climate disruption by dropping temperatures across the planet to levels not seen since the last 

ice age; under these conditions much of humanity might 

face starvation and humans might even be at grave risk 

as a species; 

Whereas despite assurances that these arsenals exist solely to 

guarantee that they are never used, there have been 

many occasions when nuclear armed states have prepared 

to use these weapons, and war has been averted only at 

the last minute; 

Whereas the current nuclear weapons policies of the United 

States do not inherently prevent their use; 

Whereas in the 2003 documentary, ‘‘The Fog of War: Eleven 

Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara’’, former 

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara said, when describing the Cuban Missile Crisis, ‘‘It was luck that prevented 

nuclear war’’—yet the nuclear policy of the United States 

should not be based on the hope that ‘‘luck’’ will continue; 

Whereas the United States intelligence community’s January 

29, 2019, annual assessment of worldwide threats warned 

that the effects of climate change and environmental degradation increase stress on communities around the world 


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and intensify global instability and the likelihood of conflict, causing the danger of using nuclear weapons or nuclear war to grow; 

Whereas in October 2017, the Congressional Budget Office 

estimated that the Nuclear Modernization Plan to upgrade and enhance nearly every element of the nuclear 

arsenal of the United States would result in costs of more 

than $1,200,000,000,000 over 30 years, not adjusting for 

inflation; 

Whereas the Congressional Budget Office further estimates 

that annual spending on nuclear weapons will peak at 

about $50,000,000,000 during the late 2020s and early 

2030s; 

Whereas a February 6, 2018, report by the Government Accountability Office report warned that the ‘‘National Nuclear Security Administration’s (NNSA) plans to modernize its nuclear weapons do not align with its budget, 

raising affordability concerns’’, thereby increasing the 

pressure on the defense budget and the implicit trade-offs 

within that budget, diverting crucial resources needed to 

assure the well-being of the American people and the 

ability to respond to global crises and priorities, increasing the potential risk of nuclear accidents, and helping 

fuel a global arms race; 

Whereas, on February 2, 2019, the United States and the 

Russian Federation withdrew from the IntermediateRange Nuclear Forces Treaty, signed in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union leader Mikhail 

Gorbachev, which has prohibited the development and deployment of ground-launched nuclear missiles with ranges 

of 310 miles to 3,420 miles, and has resulted in each 

country dismantling more than 2,500 missiles and has 


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kept nuclear-tipped cruise missiles off the European continent for three decades, thus sparking increased concern 

in a renewed nuclear arms race between the two countries and other nuclear-armed nations; and 

Whereas, on July 7, 2017, an alternative global nuclear policy was adopted by 122 nations by signing the Treaty on 

the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which calls for the 

elimination of all nuclear weapons: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep2 resentatives that the United States— 

3 (1) calls on the President to embrace the goals 

4 and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of 

5 Nuclear Weapons and make nuclear disarmament 

6 the centerpiece of the national security policy of the 

7 United States; and 

8 (2) calls on the Secretary of State, the Sec9 retary of Defense, all other Federal and congres10 sional leaders of the United States and the Amer11 ican people to lead a global effort to prevent nuclear 

12 war by— 

13 (A) renouncing the option of using nuclear 

14 weapons first; 

15 (B) ending the President’s sole authority 

16 to launch a nuclear attack; 

17 (C) taking the nuclear weapons of the 

18 United States off hair-trigger alert; 


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1 (D) canceling the plan to replace the nu2 clear arsenal of the United States with modern3 ized, enhanced weapons; and 

4 (E) actively pursuing a verifiable agree5 ment among nuclear-armed states to mutually 

6 eliminate their nuclear arsenals. 

Æ 


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