I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5951 
To require the approval of Congress before explosive nuclear testing may 
be resumed. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 7, 2025 
Mr. HORSFORD (for himself and Ms. LEE of Nevada) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in ad-
dition to the Committee on Rules, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To require the approval of Congress before explosive nuclear 
testing may be resumed. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘No Nuclear Testing 
Without Approval Act’’. 
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT FOR APPROVAL OF CONGRESS FOR 
CONDUCT OF EXPLOSIVE NUCLEAR TESTING. 
Section 4210(a) of the Atomic Energy Defense Act 
(50 U.S.C. 2530(a)) is amended to read as follows: 
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‘‘(a) EXPLOSIVE NUCLEAR TESTING.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—No explosive nuclear test-
ing may be conducted by the United States after the 
date of the enactment of the No Nuclear Testing 
Without Approval Act unless— 
‘‘(A)(i) a foreign state conducts an explo-
sive nuclear test after that date; or 
‘‘(ii) there is a technical need for such test-
ing; 
‘‘(B) not less than 180 days before the 
date proposed to conduct such testing, the 
President submits to Congress a notification de-
scribed in paragraph (2) with respect to such 
testing; and 
‘‘(C) a joint resolution approving the test-
ing with respect to which the notification is 
submitted under subparagraph (B) is enacted 
into law— 
‘‘(i) in the case of testing proposed to 
be conducted after a foreign state conducts 
an explosive nuclear test— 
‘‘(I) without use of expedited pro-
cedures under paragraph (3); but 
‘‘(II) requiring, for passage in 
the Senate, the affirmative vote of 
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two-thirds of Senators, duly chosen 
and sworn; or 
‘‘(ii) in the case of testing proposed to 
be conducted because there is a technical 
need for such testing, pursuant to para-
graph (3). 
‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION DESCRIBED.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—A notification de-
scribed in this paragraph with respect to a pro-
posal to conduct explosive nuclear testing shall 
include— 
‘‘(i) a description of the testing pro-
posed to be conducted; 
‘‘(ii) a statement of the reasons for 
conducting the testing, including— 
‘‘(I) whether or not there is a 
technical need for conducting the test-
ing; 
‘‘(II) if there is a technical need 
for conducting the testing— 
‘‘(aa) a description of the 
technical need; 
‘‘(bb) an assessment of al-
ternative options for addressing 
the need; 
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‘‘(cc) an explanation of why 
those options were not selected; 
and 
‘‘(dd) a description of en-
gagement with the Governor of 
the State in which explosive nu-
clear testing would occur; and 
‘‘(III) if the reason for con-
ducting the testing is in response to a 
geopolitical event under the responsi-
bility of the President acting as the 
Commander in Chief of the Armed 
Forces, a detailed explanation of why 
the testing would be in the supreme 
national interest of the United States; 
‘‘(iii) an estimate of the timelines and 
costs of conducting the testing; and 
‘‘(iv) any other information the Presi-
dent considers relevant. 
‘‘(B) FORM.—A notification described in 
subparagraph (A) shall be submitted in unclas-
sified form but may include a classified annex. 
‘‘(3) JOINT RESOLUTION OF APPROVAL FOR EX-
PLOSIVE NUCLEAR TESTING FOR WHICH THERE IS A 
TECHNICAL NEED.— 
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‘‘(A) JOINT
RESOLUTION
OF
APPROVAL 
DEFINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘joint 
resolution of approval’ means a joint resolution 
of either House of Congress the sole matter 
after the resolving clause of which is the fol-
lowing: ‘Congress approves of the proposal of 
the President to conduct explosive nuclear test-
ing for which there is a technical need, notice 
of which was submitted to Congress under sec-
tion 4210(a) of the Atomic Energy Defense Act 
(50 U.S.C. 2530(a)) on llll.’, with the 
blank space being filled with the appropriate 
date. 
‘‘(B) INTRODUCTION; REFERRAL.—A joint 
resolution of approval— 
‘‘(i) may be introduced in either 
House by any member; and 
‘‘(ii) shall be referred— 
‘‘(I) in the Senate, to the Com-
mittee on Armed Services of the Sen-
ate; and 
‘‘(II) in the House of Represent-
atives, to the Committee on Armed 
Services of the House of Representa-
tives. 
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debate on a joint resolution of ap-
proval, and a single quorum call at 
the conclusion of the debate if re-
quested in accordance with the rules 
of the Senate. Passage of the joint 
resolution shall require the affirmative 
vote of two-thirds of Senators, duly 
chosen and sworn. 
‘‘(IV) RULINGS
OF
THE
CHAIR 
ON
PROCEDURE.—Appeals from the 
decisions of the Chair relating to the 
application of the rules of the Senate, 
as the case may be, to the procedure 
relating to a joint resolution of ap-
proval shall be decided without de-
bate. 
‘‘(E) RULES RELATING TO SENATE AND 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.— 
‘‘(i) COORDINATION WITH ACTION BY 
OTHER HOUSE.—If, before the passage by 
one House of a joint resolution of that 
House, that House receives from the other 
House a joint resolution of approval that is 
identical to the joint resolution of the 
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House receiving the resolution, then the 
following procedures shall apply: 
‘‘(I) The joint resolution of the 
other House shall not be referred to a 
committee. 
‘‘(II) With respect to a joint res-
olution of the House receiving the res-
olution— 
‘‘(aa) the procedure in that 
House shall be the same as if no 
joint resolution had been received 
from the other House; but 
‘‘(bb) the vote on passage 
shall— 
‘‘(AA) require the af-
firmative vote of two-thirds 
of Senators, duly chosen and 
sworn, for passage; and 
‘‘(BB) be on the joint 
resolution 
of 
the 
other 
House. 
‘‘(ii) TREATMENT OF JOINT RESOLU-
TION
OF
OTHER
HOUSE.—If one House 
fails to introduce or consider a joint resolu-
tion under this section, the joint resolution 
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of the other House shall be entitled to ex-
pedited floor procedures under this para-
graph. 
‘‘(iii) TREATMENT
OF
COMPANION 
MEASURES.—If, following passage of the 
joint resolution in the Senate, the Senate 
then receives an identical resolution from 
the House of Representatives, the resolu-
tion of the House shall not be debatable. 
‘‘(iv) CONSIDERATION OF VETO MES-
SAGES.—If the President vetoes a joint 
resolution of approval, debate on a veto 
message in the Senate shall be 1 hour 
equally divided between the majority and 
minority leaders or their designees. 
‘‘(F) RULES OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTA-
TIVES AND SENATE.—This paragraph enacted 
by the Senate and the House of Representa-
tives— 
‘‘(i) as an exercise of the rulemaking 
power of the Senate and House, respec-
tively, and as such it is deemed a part of 
the rules of each House, respectively, but 
applicable only with respect to the proce-
dure to be followed in that House in the 
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case of a joint resolution of approval, and 
it supersedes other rules only to the extent 
that it is inconsistent with such rules; and 
‘‘(ii) with full recognition of the con-
stitutional right of either House to change 
the rules (so far as relating to the proce-
dure of that House) at any time, in the 
same manner, and to the same extent as in 
the case of any other rule of that House. 
‘‘(5) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) EXPLOSIVE NUCLEAR TESTING.—The 
term ‘explosive nuclear testing’— 
‘‘(i) means testing involving the explo-
sive compression or assembly of fissile ma-
terial to exceed critical mass with the at-
tendant release of any nuclear energy from 
fission processes; and 
‘‘(ii) does not include subcritical ex-
periments carried out as part of the stock-
pile stewardship program under section 
4201, laser fusion experiments, or other in-
ertial confinement fusion experiments how-
ever driven. 
‘‘(B) TECHNICAL NEED.—The term ‘tech-
nical need’, with respect to explosive nuclear 
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testing, means that all officials specified in sec-
tion 4205(b) determine that an explosive nu-
clear test is necessary to resolve an issue with 
respect to the safety, reliability, performance, or 
military effectiveness of a nuclear weapon 
type.’’. 
Æ 
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