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 fol-
lowing joint resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Inter-
national 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 mate-
rial in the states of the former Soviet Union could fall
into the hands of terrorists;
Whereas the executive branch of the United States govern-
ment is developing nuclear ‘‘bunker busters’’ and threat-
ening to use them against countries that do not possess
nuclear weapons;
•HJ 97 IH
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 coun-
tries threatened with ‘‘assured destruction’’ and allows
them each to maintain arsenals of more than 10,000 ac-
tive, inactive, strategic, and tactical warheads;
Whereas the dangers posed by huge nuclear arsenals, threats
of using nuclear weapons, proliferation of nuclear weap-
ons, and terrorism are linked since the refusal of the
countries possessing nuclear weapons to disarm them
fuels proliferation, and proliferation makes nuclear mate-
rials more accessible to terrorists;
Whereas the events of September 11, 2001, brought home to
the people of the United States what it means to experi-
ence a catastrophic attack, yet the horrifying losses that
day were only a fraction of what any country would suf-
fer 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
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the Congress—
(1) calls on the President of the United States
and the Government of Russia to fulfill the commit-
•HJ 97 IH
ments of the United States and Russia under the
Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
to work with the other nuclear powers toward elimi-
nating nuclear weapons in stages that are subjected
to careful inspection and verification; and
(2) in taking steps to carry out paragraph (1),
the United States—
(A) should renounce the first use of nu-
clear weapons and permanently end the develop-
ment, testing, and production of nuclear war-
heads;
(B) should seek an agreement with Russia
that—
(i) provides for the mutual and
verified destruction of nuclear weapons
that are withdrawn under treaties that
have been signed; and
(ii) increases the resources available
in the United States and in the states of
the former Soviet Union to secure nuclear
warheads and nuclear material and to im-
plement the destruction of those warheads
and material;
(C) should strengthen nonproliferation ef-
forts by—
•HJ 97 IH
warheads each and proceeding to further reduc-
tions of the nuclear warheads held by all of the
nuclear powers.
Æ