I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 6465 
To reduce and eliminate threats posed by nuclear weapons to the United 
States, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 4, 2025 
Mr. MCGOVERN (for himself, Mr. GARAMENDI, and Mr. BEYER) introduced 
the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Serv-
ices, and in addition to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To reduce and eliminate threats posed by nuclear weapons 
to the United States, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Hastening Arms Limi-
tations Talks Act of 2025’’ or the ‘‘HALT Act of 2025’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:54 Dec 19, 2025
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6465.IH
H6465
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
(1) The use of nuclear weapons poses an exis-
tential threat to humanity, a fact that led President 
Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorba-
chev to declare in a joint statement in 1987 that a 
‘‘nuclear war cannot be won and must never be 
fought’’, a sentiment affirmed by the People’s Re-
public of China, France, the Russian Federation, the 
United Kingdom, and the United States in January 
2022. 
(2) On June 12, 1982, an estimated 1,000,000 
people attended the largest peace rally in United 
States history, in support of a movement to freeze 
and reverse the nuclear arms race, a movement that 
helped to create the political will necessary for the 
negotiation of several bilateral arms control treaties 
between the United States and former Soviet Union, 
and then the Russian Federation. Those treaties 
contributed to strategic stability through mutual and 
verifiable reciprocal nuclear weapons reductions. 
(3) Since the advent of nuclear weapons in 
1945, millions of people around the world have stood 
up to demand meaningful, immediate international 
action to halt, reduce, and eliminate the threats 
posed by nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons testing, 
and nuclear war, to humankind and the planet. 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:54 Dec 19, 2025
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6465.IH
H6465
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
(4) In 1970, the Treaty on the Non-Prolifera-
tion of Nuclear Weapons done at Washington, Lon-
don, and Moscow July 1, 1968 (21 UST 483) (com-
monly referred to as the ‘‘Nuclear Non-Proliferation 
Treaty’’ or the ‘‘NPT’’), entered into force, which 
includes a binding obligation on the 5 nuclear-weap-
on states (commonly referred to as the ‘‘P5’’), 
among other things, ‘‘to pursue negotiations in good 
faith on effective measures relating to the cessation 
of the nuclear arms race . . . and to nuclear disar-
mament’’. 
(5) Bipartisan United States global leadership 
has curbed the growth in the number of countries 
possessing nuclear weapons and has slowed overall 
vertical proliferation among countries already pos-
sessing nuclear weapons, as is highlighted by a more 
than 90 percent reduction in the United States nu-
clear weapons stockpile from its Cold War height of 
31,255 in 1967. 
(6) The United States testing of nuclear weap-
ons is no longer necessary as a result of the fol-
lowing major technical developments since the Sen-
ate’s consideration of the Comprehensive Nuclear- 
Test-Ban Treaty (commonly referred to as the 
‘‘CTBT’’) in 1999: 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:54 Dec 19, 2025
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6465.IH
H6465
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
(A) The verification architecture of the 
Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban-Treaty Orga-
nization 
(commonly 
referred 
to 
as 
the 
‘‘CTBTO’’)— 
(i) has made significant advance-
ments, as seen through its network of 300 
International Monitoring Stations and its 
International Data Centre, which together 
provide for the near instantaneous detec-
tion of nuclear explosives tests, including 
all 6 such tests conducted by North Korea 
between 2006 and 2017; and 
(ii) is operational 24 hours a day, 7 
days a week. 
(B) Since the United States signed the 
CTBT, confidence has grown in the science- 
based Stockpile Stewardship and Management 
Plan of the Department of Energy, which forms 
the basis of annual certifications to the Presi-
dent regarding the continual safety, security, 
and effectiveness of the United States nuclear 
deterrent in the absence of nuclear testing, 
leading former Secretary of Energy Ernest 
Moniz to remark in 2015 that ‘‘lab directors 
today now state that they certainly understand 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:54 Dec 19, 2025
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6465.IH
H6465
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
much more about how nuclear weapons work 
than during the period of nuclear testing’’. 
(7) Despite the progress made to reduce the 
number and role of, and risks posed by, nuclear 
weapons, and to halt the Cold War-era nuclear arms 
race, tensions between countries that possess nuclear 
weapons are on the rise, key nuclear risk reduction 
treaties are under threat, significant stockpiles of 
weapons-usable fissile material remain, and a quali-
tative global nuclear arms race is now underway 
with each of the countries that possess nuclear 
weapons spending tens of billions of dollars each 
year to maintain and improve their arsenals. 
(8) The Russian Federation is pursuing the de-
velopment of destabilizing types of nuclear weapons 
that are not presently covered under any existing 
arms control treaty or agreement and the People’s 
Republic of China, India, Pakistan, and the Demo-
cratic People’s Republic of Korea have each taken 
concerning steps to diversify their more modest 
sized, but nonetheless very deadly, nuclear arsenals. 
(9) The 2022 Nuclear Posture Review was 
right to label the nuclear-armed sea-launched cruise 
missile as ‘‘no longer necessary’’, as that missile, if 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:54 Dec 19, 2025
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6465.IH
H6465
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
deployed, would have the effect of lowering the 
threshold for nuclear weapons use. 
(10) On February 3, 2021, President Joseph R. 
Biden preserved binding and verifiable limits on the 
deployed and non-deployed strategic forces of the 
largest two nuclear weapons powers through the 
five-year extension of the Treaty between the United 
States of America and the Russian Federation on 
Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation 
of Strategic Offensive Arms, signed April 8, 2010, 
and entered into force February 5, 2011 (commonly 
referred to as the ‘‘New START Treaty’’). 
(11) In 2013, the report on a nuclear weapons 
employment strategy of the United States submitted 
under section 492 of title 10, United States Code, 
determined that it is possible to ensure the security 
of the United States and allies and partners of the 
United States and maintain a strong and credible 
strategic deterrent while safely pursuing up to a 1⁄3 
reduction in deployed nuclear weapons from the level 
established in the New START Treaty. 
(12) On January 12, 2017, then-Vice President 
Biden stated, ‘‘[G]iven our non-nuclear capabilities 
and the nature of today’s threats—it’s hard to envi-
sion a plausible scenario in which the first use of nu-
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:54 Dec 19, 2025
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6465.IH
H6465
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
clear weapons by the United States would be nec-
essary. Or make sense.’’. 
(13) On September 23, 2025, President Trump 
stated in front of the United Nations General As-
sembly, ‘‘We want to have a cessation of the devel-
opment of nuclear weapons . . . . If we ever use 
them, the world literally might come to an end.’’. 
(14) In light of moves by the United States and 
other countries to increase their reliance on nuclear 
weapons, a global nuclear freeze would seek to halt 
the new nuclear arms race by seeking conclusion of 
a comprehensive and verifiable freeze on the testing, 
deployment, and production of nuclear weapons and 
delivery vehicles for such weapons. 
(15) The reckless and repeated nuclear threats 
by Russian President Vladimir Putin since the Feb-
ruary 2022 invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Fed-
eration underscore the need for a global nuclear 
freeze. 
SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 
The following is the policy of the United States: 
(1) The United States should build upon its 
decades long, bipartisan efforts to reduce the num-
ber and salience of nuclear weapons by leading inter-
national negotiations on specific arms-reduction 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:54 Dec 19, 2025
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6465.IH
H6465
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
measures as part of a 21st century global nuclear 
freeze movement. 
(2) Building on the 2021 extension of the New 
START Treaty, the United States should engage 
with all other countries that possess nuclear weapons 
to seek to negotiate and conclude future multilateral 
arms control, disarmament, and risk reduction 
agreements, which should contain some or all of the 
following provisions: 
(A) An agreement by the United States 
and the Russian Federation on a resumption of 
on-site inspections and verification measures 
per the New START Treaty and a follow-on 
treaty or agreement to the New START Treaty 
that may lower the central limits of the Treaty 
and cover new kinds of strategic delivery vehi-
cles or non-strategic nuclear weapons. 
(B) An agreement on a verifiable freeze on 
the testing, production, and further deployment 
of all nuclear weapons and delivery vehicles for 
such weapons. 
(C) An agreement that establishes a 
verifiable numerical ceiling on the deployed 
shorter-range and intermediate-range and stra-
tegic delivery systems (as defined by the Treaty 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:54 Dec 19, 2025
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00008
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6465.IH
H6465
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
Between the United States of America and the 
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the 
Elimination of Their Intermediate- Range and 
Shorter-Range Missiles signed at Washington 
December 8, 1987, and entered into force June 
1, 1988 (commonly referred to as the ‘‘Inter-
mediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty’’), and 
the New START Treaty, respectively) and the 
nuclear warheads associated with such systems 
belonging to the P5, and to the extent possible, 
all countries that possess nuclear weapons, at 
August 2, 2019, levels. 
(D) An agreement by each country to 
adopt a policy of no first use of nuclear weap-
ons or provide transparency into its nuclear de-
claratory policy. 
(E) An agreement on a proactive United 
Nations Security Council resolution that ex-
pands access by the International Atomic En-
ergy Agency to any country found by the Board 
of Governors of that Agency to be noncompliant 
with its obligations under the NPT. 
(F) An agreement to refrain from config-
uring nuclear forces in a ‘‘launch on warning’’ 
or ‘‘launch under warning’’ nuclear posture, 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:54 Dec 19, 2025
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00009
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6465.IH
H6465
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
which may prompt a nuclear armed country to 
launch a ballistic missile attack in response to 
detection by an early-warning satellite or sensor 
of a suspected incoming ballistic missile. 
(G) An agreement not to target or inter-
fere in the nuclear command, control, and com-
munications (commonly referred to as ‘‘NC3’’) 
infrastructure of another country through a ki-
netic attack or a cyberattack. 
(H) An agreement on transparency meas-
ures or verifiable limits, or both, on hypersonic 
cruise missiles and glide vehicles that are fired 
from sea-based, ground, and air platforms. 
(I) An agreement to provide a baseline and 
continuous exchanges detailing the aggregate 
number of active nuclear weapons and associ-
ated systems possessed by each country. 
(3) The United States should rejuvenate efforts 
in the United Nations Conference on Disarmament 
toward the negotiation of a verifiable Fissile Mate-
rial Treaty or Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty, or 
move negotiations to another international body or 
fora, such as a meeting of the P5. Successful conclu-
sion of such a treaty would verifiably prevent any 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:54 Dec 19, 2025
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00010
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6465.IH
H6465
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
country’s production of highly enriched uranium and 
plutonium for use in nuclear weapons. 
(4) The United States should convene a series 
of head-of-state level summits on nuclear disar-
mament modeled on the Nuclear Security Summits 
process, which saw the elimination of the equivalent 
of 3,000 nuclear weapons. 
(5) The President should seek ratification by 
the Senate of the CTBT and mobilize all countries 
covered by Annex 2 of the CTBT to pursue similar 
action to hasten entry into force of the CTBT. The 
entry into force of the CTBT, for which ratification 
by the United States will provide critical momentum, 
will activate the CTBT’s onsite inspection provision 
to investigate allegations that any country that is a 
party to the CTBT has conducted a nuclear test of 
any yield. 
(6) The United States should— 
(A) refrain from developing any new de-
signs for nuclear warheads or bombs, but espe-
cially designs that could add a level of technical 
uncertainty into the United States stockpile and 
thus renew calls to resume nuclear explosive 
testing in order to test that new design; and 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:54 Dec 19, 2025
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00011
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6465.IH
H6465
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
(B) seek reciprocal commitments from 
other countries that possess nuclear weapons. 
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS FOR NUCLEAR 
TEST EXPLOSIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—None of the funds authorized to 
be appropriated or otherwise made available for fiscal year 
2026 or any fiscal year thereafter, or authorized to be ap-
propriated or otherwise made available for any fiscal year 
before fiscal year 2026 and available for obligation as of 
the date of the enactment of this Act, may be obligated 
or expended to conduct or make preparations for any ex-
plosive nuclear weapons test that produces any yield until 
such time as— 
(1) the President submits to Congress an ad-
dendum to the report required by section 4205 of 
the Atomic Energy Defense Act (50 U.S.C. 2525) 
that details any change to the condition of the 
United States nuclear weapons stockpile from the 
report submitted under that section in the preceding 
year; and 
(2) there is enacted into law a joint resolution 
of Congress that approves the test. 
(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Subsection (a) does 
not limit nuclear stockpile stewardship activities that are 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:54 Dec 19, 2025
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00012
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H6465.IH
H6465
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS
consistent with the zero-yield standard and other require-
ments under law. 
Æ 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
20:54 Dec 19, 2025
Jkt 069200
PO 00000
Frm 00013
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H6465.IH
H6465
ssavage on LAPJG3WLY3PROD with BILLS