Statement of
Eleanor Holmes Norton
On the Introduction of
the Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act of 2013
Ms. Norton. Mr. Speaker.
Today, I am introducing the Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy
Conversion Act of 2013 [HR 1650], a version of which I have introduced since 1994, after
working with the District of Columbia residents who were responsible for the
Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion ballot initiative passed by D.C.
voters in 1993. This version of the bill now requires the United States
to negotiate an international agreement to disable and dismantle its nuclear
weapons by 2020 and provides for strict control of fissile material and
radioactive waste and for use of nuclear-free energy. The bill continues
to provide that the funds used for nuclear weapons programs be redirected to
human and infrastructure needs, such as housing, health care, Social Security
and the environment, and it would take effect when the President certifies to
Congress that all countries possessing nuclear weapons have eliminated such
weapons. The bill is particularly timely as Congress continues to make
cuts to important human and infrastructure programs and as the world confronts
concerns about nuclear proliferation to Iran and North Korea.
Following years of dangerous increases in U.S. nuclear capacity during the
George W. Bush administration, President Barack Obama has begun to rebuild U.S.
credibility with his goal of taking the necessary steps to achieve a world
without nuclear weapons. The presidents strong push for the New START
treaty in 2010, when Republicans seemed adamant on delaying it, resulted in
ratification by the Senate. The treaty requires the two major nuclear
powers, Russia and the United States, to continue to reduce nuclear weapons by
mutually reducing their nuclear warheads by half and their number of
intercontinental ballistic missiles and missile launchers, and, within 60 days
of the treaty taking affect, on February 5, 2011, submit to on-site inspections
of strategic nuclear weapons facilities by the weapons experts of the other
country.
Today, our country has a long list of urgent domestic needs that have been put
on the back burner even though millions of Americans have lost their homes and
jobs and sequestration has started. As the only nation that has used
nuclear weapons in war, and that still possesses the largest nuclear weapons
arsenal, I urge support for my bill to help the United States lead the world in
redirecting funds that would otherwise go to nuclear weapons to be available
for urgent domestic needs.