IV
106TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. CON. RES. 74
Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding maintenance of the nuclear
weapons stockpile.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 24, 1999
Mr. MARKEY (for himself, Mr. BARRETT of Wisconsin, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms.
ESHOO, Mr. GUTIERREZ, Ms. LEE, Mrs. LOWEY, Mrs. MALONEY of New
York, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr. GEORGE MIL-
LER of California, Mr. NADLER, Mr. OWENS, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. PAYNE,
Mr. TIERNEY, and Ms. WOOLSEY) submitted the following concurrent
resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding maintenance
of the nuclear weapons stockpile.
Whereas it is in the best interests of the Nation and the
world to ban nuclear explosive tests forever and to pro-
mote nuclear disarmament;
Whereas the priority of nuclear weapons stockpile steward-
ship should be the safety of the existing arsenal, and
there is no need to design or develop new nuclear weap-
ons or to modify the nuclear explosive package in existing
weapons;
Whereas the United States has conducted more than 1000
explosive tests of its nuclear weapons arsenal, and the
•HCON 74 IH
stockpile can be maintained reliably without further nu-
clear explosive testing;
Whereas an ongoing stockpile evaluation and maintenance
program has ensured the safety and reliability of the ar-
senal for decades, and the Secretaries of Energy and De-
fense again certified its safety and reliability on Decem-
ber 11, 1998;
Whereas the new stockpile stewardship and management pro-
gram, funded at $4,500,000,000 annually over ten years,
is not needed to maintain the arsenal, and many of its
programs and facilities are unnecessary and hence a
waste of taxpayer dollars;
Whereas the Department of Energy and the nuclear weapons
laboratories intend to use the stockpile stewardship pro-
gram to maintain and significantly enhance scientific and
technical capabilities for undertaking ‘‘development of ad-
vanced new types of nuclear weapons’’ (as stated in the
United States Department of Energy Stockpile Steward-
ship and Management Plan, 1996);
Whereas maintaining and enhancing capabilities for nuclear
weapon design and development is provocative to other
nuclear-weapon states and to non-nuclear-weapon states,
and runs counter to the obligations of the Treaty on the
Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons ‘‘to pursue nego-
tiations in good faith on ... cessation of the nuclear arms
race at an early date and ... nuclear disarmament,’’ and
counter to the purposes of the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty, which include ‘‘constraining the development of
advanced new types of nuclear weapons’’; and
Whereas there are less costly and more appropriate alter-
natives that can maintain the United States nuclear
•HCON 74 IH
weapons stockpile while complying with the Nuclear Non-
Proliferation Treaty and the Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty: Now, therefore be it
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that—
(1) the priority of the nuclear weapons stockpile
stewardship program should be the safety and secu-
rity of the existing nuclear weapons stockpile, the
program should also maintain sufficient weapon reli-
ability to ensure the arsenal’s deterrent effect, and
the program should not attempt to develop new nu-
clear weapons;
(2) the nuclear weapons stockpile can be main-
tained with a program that is far smaller than the
current program, is less expensive, and does not re-
quire facilities or experiments that are likely to be
used for warhead design or development; and
(3) the Secretary of Energy should redirect the
Department of Energy program for custodianship of
the nuclear weapons arsenal toward less costly, less
provocative methods that are consistent with United
States treaty obligations.
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