[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 323 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 323
Urging the United States to lead a global effort to halt and reverse
the nuclear arms race.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 16, 2025
Mr. Markey (for himself, Mr. Merkley, Mr. Welch, Mr. Sanders, and Mr.
Van Hollen) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Urging the United States to lead a global effort to halt and reverse
the nuclear arms race.
Whereas, since the height of the Cold War, the United States and the Russian
Federation have dismantled more than 50,000 nuclear warheads, but
approximately 12,000 nuclear weapons still exist and pose an intolerable
risk to human survival;
Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation, which possess an estimated
95 percent of nuclear weapons, have a special responsibility to meet
their obligations under Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-
Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, done at Washington, London, and Moscow
July 1, 1968 (21 UST 483) 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, and on a treaty on general and
complete disarmament under strict and effective international control'';
Whereas President Ronald Reagan said, in his January 1984 State of the Union
Address, ``A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. The
only value in our two nations possessing nuclear weapons is to make sure
they will never be used. But then would it not be better to do away with
them entirely?'';
Whereas, according to scientific studies and models, the use of even a tiny
fraction of nuclear weapons could cause worldwide climate disruption and
global famine by lofting millions of tons of soot into the upper
atmosphere, which would cause climate disruption across the planet,
cutting food production and putting hundreds of millions of people
worldwide at risk of death due to famine;
Whereas, according to numerous scientific studies and models, a large-scale
nuclear war would kill hundreds of millions of people directly and cause
unimaginable physical destruction and environmental damage, including
even more severe catastrophic climate disruption due to lower
temperatures across the planet not seen since the last ice age;
Whereas, during the course of the nuclear age, there have been technical
miscalculations, misinterpretations of adversary behavior, and crises
that have caused numerous nuclear near-misses that could have led to
nuclear war;
Whereas the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation and the
repeated explicit threats of the Kremlin to use nuclear weapons have
significantly increased the risk of nuclear weapons use;
Whereas tensions elsewhere in the world, including between the United States and
the People's Republic of China over Taiwan and the South China Sea,
ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan, and the chronic security
crisis on the Korean Peninsula, constitute other possible flashpoints
for nuclear war;
Whereas, on October 6, 2022, President Biden said, ``I don't think there's any
such thing as an ability to easily [use] a tactical nuclear weapon and
not end up with Armageddon.'';
Whereas the United States retains a Cold War-era nuclear declaratory policy that
allows for the first use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear threats
under ``extreme'' circumstances and retains a launch-under-attack
posture that unnecessarily compresses Presidential decision time to
launch nuclear weapons within minutes, thereby creating conditions that
increase the risk of unintentional or accidental nuclear war;
Whereas, in 2023, the Congressional Budget Office (referred to in this preamble
as the ``CBO'') estimated that current plans to modernize, upgrade, and
maintain the nuclear forces of the United States, as described in the
fiscal year 2023 budget and supporting documents, would cost
$756,000,000,000 over the 2023-2032 period, which was $122,000,000,000
more than the 2021 CBO estimate for the 2021-2030 period;
Whereas, in October 2017, CBO estimated that implementing the Nuclear
Modernization Plan, which intends to upgrade and enhance nearly every
element of the nuclear arsenal of the United States, would result in
costs of more than $1,200,000,000,000 over the following 30 years, not
adjusting for inflation;
Whereas Republican and Democratic administrations have negotiated multiple
agreements with the Russian Federation that have reduced their total
nuclear stockpiles by more than 80 percent since their Cold War peaks,
but in recent years have withdrawn from other global treaties and
agreements that have provided global stability and helped prevent the
proliferation of nuclear weapons, including the Treaty 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 (commonly known as the
``Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty'');
Whereas the 2022 Nuclear Posture Review states that ``[m]utual, verifiable
nuclear arms control offers the most effective, durable[,] and
responsible path to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our strategy
and prevent their use'';
Whereas 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 at Prague April 8, 2010 (TIAS 11-205),
which is the last remaining treaty limiting the size of the strategic
nuclear arsenals of the United States and the Russian Federation, will
expire on February 5, 2026, and in the absence of agreed following
constraints, each side could significantly increase the number of
deployed warheads, thereby accelerating an unconstrained, costly, and
dangerous global nuclear arms race;
Whereas, on July 7, 2017, 122 nations voted to adopt the Treaty on the
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which prohibits the possession, use,
testing, stationing, or transfer of nuclear weapons and creates an
important legal framework for the elimination of all nuclear weapons and
entered into force on January 22, 2021; and
Whereas the United States suspended nuclear explosive testing in 1992,
successfully led the negotiation of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban
Treaty, done at New York September 10, 1999, which has been signed by
187 countries including the United States and the other permanent
members of the United Nations Security Council, and has effectively put
an end to nuclear test explosions, which can be used by newer nuclear
powers with the means to prove new warhead designs: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That the Senate calls on the President to--
(1) actively pursue a world free of nuclear weapons as a
national security imperative; and
(2) lead a global effort to halt and reverse a global
nuclear arms race and prevent nuclear war by--
(A) engaging in good faith negotiations with--
(i) the other 8 nuclear armed countries
to--
(I) halt any further buildup of
nuclear arsenals; and
(II) aggressively pursue a
verifiable and irreversible agreement
or agreements to verifiably reduce and
eliminate their nuclear arsenals
according to negotiated timetables;
(ii) the Russian Federation to pursue and
conclude new nuclear arms control and
disarmament arrangements with the Russian
Federation to prevent a buildup of nuclear
forces beyond current levels; and
(iii) the People's Republic of China on
mutual nuclear risk reduction and arms control
measures;
(B) leading the effort to have all nuclear-armed
countries renounce the option of using nuclear weapons
first;
(C) implementing effective checks and balances on
the sole authority of the President, as Commander-in-
Chief, to order the use of United States nuclear
weapons;
(D) ending the Cold War-era ``hair-trigger alert''
posture, which increases the risk of catastrophic
miscalculation in a crisis;
(E) ending plans to produce and deploy new nuclear
warheads and delivery systems, which would reduce the
burden on taxpayers in the United States;
(F) maintaining the de facto global moratorium on
nuclear explosive testing;
(G) protecting communities and workers affected by
nuclear weapons by--
(i) fully remediating the deadly legacy of
environmental contamination from past and
current nuclear weapons testing, development,
production, storage, and maintenance
activities; and
(ii) providing health monitoring,
compensation, and medical care to those who
have and will be harmed by nuclear weapons
research, testing, and production, including
through an expanded program under the Radiation
Exposure Compensation Act (Public Law 101-426;
42 U.S.C. 2210 note); and
(H) actively planning a just economic transition
for the civilian and military workforce involved in the
development, testing, production, management, and
dismantlement of nuclear weapons and for the
communities that are economically dependent on nuclear
weapons laboratories, production facilities, and
military bases.
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