{"id":6835,"date":"2017-01-24T20:51:42","date_gmt":"2017-01-24T20:51:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/?p=6835"},"modified":"2017-01-24T20:59:03","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T20:59:03","slug":"lieu-markey-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/blog\/2017\/01\/lieu-markey-act\/","title":{"rendered":"Congressman Lieu, Senator Markey Introduce the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017 – Press Release by Congressman Ted Lieu & Senator Edward J. Markey"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"The<\/a> Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) & Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA)<\/span>
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Washington<\/em> \u2013 <\/strong>Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D | Los Angeles County) and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) introduced the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 This legislation would prohibit the President from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress.\u00a0The crucial issue of nuclear \u201cfirst use\u201d is more urgent than ever now that President Donald Trump has the power to launch a nuclear war at a moment\u2019s notice.<\/p>\n

Upon introduction of this legislation, Mr. Lieu issued the following statement:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a frightening reality that the U.S. now has a Commander-in-Chief who has demonstrated ignorance of the nuclear triad, stated his desire to be \u2018unpredictable\u2019 with nuclear weapons, and as President-elect was making sweeping statements about U.S. nuclear policy over Twitter. Congress must act to preserve global stability by restricting the circumstances under which the U.S. would be the first nation to use a nuclear weapon. Our Founders created a system of checks and balances, and it is essential for that standard to be applied to the potentially civilization-ending threat of nuclear war. I am proud to introduce the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017 with Sen. Markey to realign our nation\u2019s nuclear weapons launch policy with the Constitution and work towards a safer world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon introduction of this legislation, Senator Markey issued the following statement:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNuclear war poses the gravest risk to human survival. Yet, President Trump has suggested that he would consider launching nuclear attacks against terrorists. Unfortunately, by maintaining the option of using nuclear weapons first in a conflict, U.S. policy provides him with that power. In a crisis with another nuclear-armed country, this policy drastically increases the risk of unintended nuclear escalation. Neither President Trump, nor any other president, should be allowed to use nuclear weapons except in response to a nuclear attack. By\u00a0restricting the first use of nuclear weapons, this legislation enshrines that simple principle into law. I thank Rep. Lieu for his partnership on this common-sense bill during this critical time in our nation\u2019s history.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support for the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n

William J. Perry, Former Secretary of Defense<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cDuring my period as Secretary of Defense, I never confronted a situation, or could even imagine a situation, in which I would recommend that the President make a first strike with nuclear weapons\u2014understanding that such an action, whatever the provocation, would likely bring about the end of civilization.\u00a0 I believe that the legislation proposed by Congressman Lieu and Senator Markey recognizes that terrible reality.\u00a0 Certainly a decision that momentous for all of civilization should have the kind of checks and balances on Executive powers called for by our Constitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Z. Collina, Policy Director of Ploughshares Fund \u2013 <\/strong>\u201cPresident Trump now has the keys to the nuclear arsenal, the most deadly killing machine ever created. Within minutes, President Trump could unleash up to 1,000 nuclear weapons, each one many times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb. Yet Congress has no voice in the most important decision the United States government can make. As it stands now, Congress has a larger role in deciding on the number of military bands than in preventing nuclear catastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Derek Johnson, Executive Director of Global Zero<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cOne modern nuclear weapon is more destructive than all of the bombs detonated in World War II combined. Yet there is no check on a president\u2019s ability to launch the thousands of nuclear weapons at his command. In the wake of the election, the American people are more concerned than ever about the terrible prospect of nuclear war \u2014 and what the next commander-in-chief will do with the proverbial \u2018red button.\u2019 That such devastating power is concentrated in one person is an affront to our democracy’s founding principles. The proposed legislation is an important first step to reining in this autocratic system and making the world safer from a nuclear catastrophe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Megan Amundson, Executive Director of Women\u2019s Action for New Directions (WAND)<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cRep. Lieu and Sen. Markey have rightly called out the dangers of only one person having his or her finger on the nuclear button. The potential misuse of this power in the current global climate has only magnified this concern. It is time to make real progress toward lowering the risk that nuclear weapons are ever used again, and this legislation is a good start.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeff Carter, Executive Director of Physicians for Social\u00a0Responsibility<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 “Nuclear weapons pose an\u00a0unacceptable risk to our national security. Even a \u201climited\u201d use of nuclear\u00a0weapons would cause\u00a0catastrophic climate disruption around the world,\u00a0including here in\u00a0the United States. They are\u00a0simply too profoundly dangerous for one person to be trusted with the power to introduce them into a\u00a0conflict.\u00a0Grounded in the fundamental constitutional provision that only Congress has the power to\u00a0declare war, the Restricting First Use of Nuclear\u00a0Weapons Act of 2017 is a wise and necessary step to lessen\u00a0the chance\u00a0these weapons will ever be\u00a0used.\u201d<\/p>\n

Diane Randall, Executive Secretary of the Friends Committee on National Legislation (Quakers)<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cRestricting first-use of nuclear weapons is an urgent priority. Congress should support the Markey-Lieu legislation.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) & Senator Edward J. Markey (D-MA) ****************************** Washington \u2013 Today, Congressman Ted W. Lieu (D | Los Angeles County) and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) introduced the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017.\u00a0 This legislation would prohibit the President from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress.\u00a0The crucial issue of nuclear \u201cfirst use\u201d is more urgent than ever now that President Donald Trump has the power to launch…<\/p>\n

Read More Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,662],"tags":[444,4220,5069,263,4354,4414,5070,566,5068,25,5071],"class_list":["post-6835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-science-2","tag-congress","tag-donald-trump","tag-edward-j-markey","tag-existential-risk","tag-nuclear-weapons","tag-press-release","tag-restricting-first-use-of-nuclear-weapons-act-of-2017","tag-risk","tag-ted-lieu","tag-united-states","tag-world-war"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6835"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6839,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6835\/revisions\/6839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rationalargumentator.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}