Title: Preventing the Spread of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2019
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Preventing the Spread of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2019
This bill requires the President to obtain congressional approval before entering into or renewing a nuclear cooperation agreement with a foreign country in certain cases.
Before entering into or renewing such an agreement, the President shall report to Congress on (1) any credible evidence that the foreign country intends to pursue a nuclear program that is not inherently peaceful; and (2) any instance where the country has violated international standards related to weapons of mass destruction, including certain treaties relating to nuclear and chemical weapons.
If the report contains any such credible evidence or instances, the President may not enter into or renew the treaty unless (1) the President submits a proposed agreement with the foreign country that meets specified statutory requirements related to nuclear cooperation agreements, and (2) Congress passes a joint resolution approving the agreement. These provisions requiring a proposed agreement and congressional approval do not apply if the foreign country is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and a nuclear weapon state.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5387 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5387

  To require congressional approval for civilian nuclear cooperation 
          under certain circumstances, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 10, 2019

 Mr. Sherman introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require congressional approval for civilian nuclear cooperation 
          under certain circumstances, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Preventing the Spread of Nuclear 
Weapons Act of 2019''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The statement by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of 
        Turkey on September 4, 2019, that he ``cannot accept'' a state 
        of affairs in which Turkey has no missiles armed with nuclear 
        warheads follows other concerning statements from senior 
        officials that the Government of Turkey may pursue a nuclear-
        weapons capability, which runs counter to its obligations under 
        the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and the bipartisan United 
        States objective of negotiating a weapons of mass destruction-
        free zone in the Middle East.
            (2) A United States civilian nuclear cooperation agreement 
        with Turkey, signed in 2008 and up for automatic renewal in 
        2023, does not currently have to be submitted for congressional 
        review, denying Congress the opportunity to insist upon a 
        renewed agreement--a prohibition on Turkey's enrichment of 
        uranium or reprocessing of plutonium on its own territory in 
        keeping with the strongest possible nonproliferation ``gold 
        standard''.

SEC. 3. CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL REQUIRED FOR CIVILIAN NUCLEAR 
              COOPERATION AGREEMENTS UNDER CERTAIN CIRCUMSTANCES.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other requirements under 
section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2153), the 
President, concurrent with submitting a proposed civilian nuclear 
cooperation agreement with a foreign country in accordance with the 
requirements of such section 123, and 60 days prior to the renewal of 
any pre-existing civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, shall submit 
to Congress a report--
            (1) declaring any credible evidence that the foreign 
        country intends, conditionally or unconditionally, to pursue a 
        nuclear program that is not inherently peaceful, including 
        public statements to that effect by a senior leader of that 
        foreign country;
            (2) citing any instance in which the foreign government has 
        violated the Chemical Weapons Convention, the Biological 
        Weapons Convention, or the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, or 
        otherwise violated international standards with respect to the 
        development, storage, deployment, or use of weapons of mass 
        destruction;
            (3) stating whether or not the foreign government has 
        committed to not enrich uranium or reprocess plutonium on its 
        own territory concurrent to a submitted proposed civilian 
        nuclear cooperation agreement or a renewal of any pre-existing 
        civilian nuclear cooperation agreement; and
            (4) stating whether or not the foreign government has 
        committed to sign and ratify the Additional Protocol to its 
        International Atomic Energy Agency Safeguards Agreement.
    (b) Required Actions.--If a report submitted under subsection (a) 
describes any known instance set forth under paragraphs (1) and (2) of 
such subsection, then, notwithstanding any other requirements under 
section 123 of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 (42 U.S.C. 2153), the 
civilian nuclear cooperation agreement with the foreign country in 
question, or the renewal of any pre-existing agreement, may only enter 
into effect on or after the date on which both of the following 
conditions have been met:
            (1) The President has submitted a proposed agreement with 
        the foreign country in accordance with the requirements of such 
        section 123.
            (2) On or after the date of the submission of the proposed 
        agreement under paragraph (1), a joint resolution stating that 
        Congress approves such agreement has been enacted.
    (c) Exemptions.--The requirements under subsection (b) do not apply 
to any country that--
            (1) is a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; 
        and
            (2) is a Nuclear Weapon State as defined by the Nuclear 
        Nonproliferation Treaty.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Biological weapons convention.--The term ``Biological 
        Weapons Convention'' means the Convention on the Prohibition of 
        the Development, Production and Stockpiling of Bacteriological 
        and Toxin Weapons and on their Destruction, done at Washington, 
        London, and Moscow, April 10, 1972.
            (2) Chemical weapons convention.--The term ``Chemical 
        Weapons Convention'' means the Convention on the Prohibition of 
        the Development, Production, Stockpiling and use of Chemical 
        Weapons and on their Destruction, done at Paris, January 13, 
        1993.
            (3) Nuclear nonproliferation treaty.--The term ``Nuclear 
        Nonproliferation Treaty'' means the Treaty on the Non-
        Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, done at Washington, London, 
        and Moscow, July 1, 1968.
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