U.S. House Resolution Regarding the Nuclear Weapons Stockpile:

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Mr. MARKEY submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the

Committee on National Security

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION

Expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the nuclear weapons stockpile.

Whereas it is in the best interest of the Nation and the world to ban nuclear tests forever;

Whereas the nuclear weapons arsenal of the United States has been extensively tested in the past, and the President again certified its safety and reliability on February 11, 1998;

Whereas the nuclear weapons stockpile can be maintained without nuclear explosive testing;

Whereas there exists an ongoing stockpile evaluation and maintenance program that has ensured the safety and reliability of the arsenal for decades;

Whereas the priority of the stewardship program should be the safety of the arsenal, and the United States should not design and develop nuclear weapons with new military capabilities or modify the nuclear explosives in existing weapons;

Whereas the proposed stockpile stewardship program, funded at $4,500,000,000 annually over ten years, is not needed to maintain the arsenal, and many of its programs and facilities are unnecessary and hence a waste of taxpayer dollars;

Whereas the proposed stockpile stewardship program is provocative to both nuclear weapon states and non-nuclear weapon states, and it runs counter to the obligations of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons to pursue negotiations in good faith on cessation of the nuclear arms race and nuclear disarmament;

Whereas nuclear weapons laboratories intend to use the current stockpile stewardship program to maintain and significantly enhance scientific and technical capabilities for undertaking "development of advanced new types of nuclear weapons" (as stated in the United States Department of Energy Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan, 1996); and

Whereas a number of less costly and more appropriate alternatives exist than can fulfill the stockpile maintenance requirements of the United States while complying with the obligations of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons;

Now, therefore, be it Resolved, by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that--

1. the nuclear weapons stockpile can be maintained with a program that is far smaller, is less expensive, and does not require facilities or experiments that are likely to be used for warhead design or development; and

2. the Secretary of Energy should direct the Department of Energy program for custodianship of the nuclear weapons arsenal toward less costly, less provocative methods and cease the current stockpile stewardship plans of the Department.

Endorsers

Barrett (D-WI) · DeGette (D-CO) · Eshoo (D-CA) · Gutierrez (D-IL) ·Lee (D-CA) · Lowey (D-NY) ·
Maloney (D-NY) · McGovern (D-MA) · McKinney (D-GA) · Meehan · (D-MA) Miller (D-CA) · Nadler (D-NY) · Owens (D-NY) · Pallone (D-NJ) · Payne (D-NJ) · Tierney (D-MA) · Woolsey (D-CA) · Allen (D-ME) · Stark (D-CA) · Frank (D-MA) · Rivers (D-MI) · Udall (D-CO) · Andrews (D-NJ) · Conyers (D-MI) · Capps (D-CA) · Kilpatrick (D-MI)

As of August 18, 1999