Sixty-two lawmakers have signed on to a letter drafted by Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) that calls on the Joint Select Committee on Debt Reduction to cut liberally from the nation’s nuclear weapons budget as it looks for areas in the federal budget to slash. Markey will join retired Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, chairman of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Ploughshares Fund President Joe Cirincione, and Families USA Director Ron Pollack at a news conference at noon Tuesday to launch an effort to spare cuts to programs for “seniors, families and the sick” in favor of cuts to nuclear weapons funding. The names of other lawmakers that have signed the letter have not been released, but Markey circulated it last month in an effort to drum up support for his nuke-cutting agenda. “We can save hundreds of billions of dollars by restructuring the U.S. nuclear program for the 21st century,” Markey said. “We can no longer afford to rob the future to pay for unneeded weapons of the past. Now is the time to reset our priorities and invest in the people and programs to get America back on track.”