Congress of the United States
House of Representatives Washington, D.C. 20515
STATEMENT OF ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON
ON THE INTRODUCTION OF THE NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT
ECONOMIC CONVERSION ACT
February, 25, 1997
The Cold War is over, but nuclear weapons remain. The bill I introduce today would
substantially reduce the likelihood that nuclear weapons will become a renewed threat. The
Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act would require the United States to disable
and dismnntle its nuolear Weapons and to refrain from replacing them with weapons of mass
destruction, once foreign countries possessing nuclear Weapons enact and execute similar
requirements. The United States, the leading nuclear power in the world, has an obligation to
take far bolder leadership in moving to help disarm these weapons.
The Act would then require that resources used to sustain nuclear programs be used to
address human seeds such as housing, health care, education, agriculture and environmental
restoration. Funding such initiatives here in the United States is necessary to bring peace within
our own country. As deficit reduction forces cuts, reducing needless nuclear weaponry is the
place to begin.
This bill is especially relevant today with the Clinton Administration's push to expand
the number of countries that are members of NATO and would be bound by the treaty to come to
each other's defense.
My bill Will put our money and our principles where our mouth has been. We must not
continue to spend on nuclear weapons while we preach peace and the end of nuclear
proliferation.
WRITE TO US at Proposition One Committee, phone 202-462-0757
P.O. Box 27217, Washington DC 20038, USA
e-mail: prop1@prop1.org