A resolution expressing support for the continued value of arms control agreements and negotiated constraints on Russian and Chinese strategic nuclear forces.

Bill: 119-sres-61
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Markey, Edward J. [D-MA]
Introduced: 2025-02-05
Policy area: International Affairs
Latest action: action_date: 2025-02-05
text: Referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. (text: CR S673-674)

Summaries:
action_date: 2025-02-05
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p>This resolution condemns Russia's nuclear escalatory rhetoric and implied threats on the potential use of nuclear weapons in the context of its invasion of Ukraine. The resolution also (1) condemns Russia's purported suspension of participation in the New START Treaty, (2) emphasizes the value of arms control agreements between the United States and Russia, and (3) calls on the administration to continue pursuing nuclear arms control and risk reduction with Russia and China.</p>

tv_txt: III 119th CONGRESS 1st Session S. RES. 61 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 5, 2025 Mr. Markey submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations RESOLUTION Expressing support for the continued value of arms control agreements and negotiated constraints on Russian and Chinese strategic nuclear forces.

Whereas the United States maintains bipartisan support to ensure national security and the defense of United States allies and partners; Whereas President Ronald Reagan stated that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought in his 1984 State of the Union Address, and affirmed the conviction with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1985; Whereas, in January 2022, President Joseph R. Biden joined the leaders of the People’s Republic of China, the French Republic, the Russian Federation, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to reaffirm that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought ; Whereas the Russian Federation illegally invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, and has used veiled and blatant nuclear saber rattling in service of its war of aggression against a sovereign state; Whereas the war has led to thousands of casualties, including over 40,000 civilians and more than 650 children killed, along with the displacement of over 10,000,000 Ukrainians; Whereas the Russian Federation’s illegal war against Ukraine represents the greatest threat to European security and freedom in a generation; Whereas, on February 27, 2022, President of Russia Vladimir Putin ordered his military to put Russia’s nuclear forces on special combat readiness in an escalatory response to the unequivocal condemnation from the United States and its western allies of the Russian Federation’s illegal invasion of Ukraine; Whereas, on September 21, 2022, President Putin warned he was not bluffing when he said Russia has various weapons of mass destruction and will use all the means available to us to defend its territory shortly before annexing additional Ukrainian lands through referendums ; Whereas, in February 2021, the United States and the Russian Federation extended 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 known as the New START Treaty ) for 5 years until February 5, 2026; Whereas, on February 21, 2023, President Putin announced the Russian Federation’s purported suspension of the New START Treaty, the last major remaining bilateral nuclear arms control agreement, in a move deemed legally invalid by the United States; Whereas the New START Treaty has had bipartisan support and limits the Russian nuclear arsenal to 1,550 warheads on no more than 700 deployed delivery vehicles, and to 800 deployed and nondeployed strategic launchers; Whereas the New START Treaty has permitted robust and strict transparency and verification measures and onsite inspections, which have provided valuable insight into Russia’s nuclear arsenal; Whereas the United States has decades of bipartisan leadership in nuclear arms control, including cooperation with the Soviet Union and the Russian Federation even when relations were strained; Whereas, in June 2023, the United States Government announced it is now ready to engage in a dialogue with the Russian Federation on a post-2026 nuclear arms control framework and is prepared to stick to the central limits as long as Russia does while also stating a willingness to engage in bilateral arms control discussions with the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China without preconditions ; Whereas the Department of State said in a report to Congress released in January 2024, The United States assesses that the Russian Federation likely did not exceed the New START Treaty’s deployed warhead limit in 2023. ; Whereas Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on September 28, 2024, at a United Nations General Assembly meeting that Russia continues to comply with the New START Treaty numerical limits; Whereas the nuclear weapon states recognized by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, done at Washington, London, and Moscow July 1, 1968 (commonly referred to as the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty or NPT ), including the Russian Federation, the United States, as well as the People’s Republic of China, have an obligation to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament ; Whereas, in November 2023, senior United States and Chinese officials held a candid and in-depth discussion on issues related to arms control and nonproliferation as part of ongoing efforts to maintain open lines of communication and responsibly manage the U.S.-PRC relationship ; and Whereas the absence of agreed limits on the United States and Russian strategic nuclear arsenals after the expiration of the New START Treaty would affect strategic stability and increase the risk of a costly and unrestrained nuclear arms race: Now, therefore, be it

That the Senate— (1) condemns in the strongest terms the use of nuclear escalatory rhetoric and veiled threats to potentially use nuclear weapons in the context of the illegal invasion of a free and independent Ukraine; (2) condemns the Russian Federation’s purported suspension of its participation in the New START Treaty; (3) calls for immediate cessation of nuclear saber rattling and nuclear escalatory rhetoric from the Russian Federation, or by any other nuclear-armed state; (4) emphasizes the continued value of arms control agreements between the United States and the Russian Federation, which possess the world’s largest nuclear arsenals; (5) calls for the Russian Federation to promptly return to full implementation of the New START Treaty, including onsite inspections, provision of treaty-mandated notifications and data, and resumption of Bilateral Consultative Commission meetings; (6) calls on the administration to continue to actively pursue a dialogue with the Russian Federation on a new nuclear arms control framework and on risk reduction in order to maintain strategic stability, ensure the conflict in Ukraine does not escalate to nuclear use, and avoid an unrestrained nuclear arms race following the expiration of the New START Treaty; (7) calls upon the United States and the Russian Federation to continue to respect the numerical constraints on the strategic deployed nuclear forces established by the New START Treaty until such time as a new nuclear arms control framework is established; and (8) calls on the administration to continue to engage the People’s Republic of China in further bilateral talks on nuclear risk reduction and arms control, and to pursue new multilateral arms control efforts.