President Joe Biden recently nominated the reliably anti-nuclear appropriator Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) as one of this year’s U.S. representatives to the United Nations from Congress.
If confirmed by the Senate, Lee would represent the U.S. during the 78th U.N. General Assembly, which opened Sept. 5. High-level meetings among world leaders are scheduled for Sept. 19-29, including a meeting about the “International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons,” according to a U.N. schedule.
The President typically appoints one Democrat and one Republican to represent the U.S. at each U.N. General Assembly session, according to the Congressional Research Service. Biden nominated Lee on Sept. 3.
The United Nations assignment could be a prelude to Lee’s exit from Congress after 25 years in Congress.
A progressive leading light, Lee is running for a U.S. Senate seat and as of deadline for Nuclear Security & Deterrence Monitor was not among the candidates in an open primary for her 12th district seat in California.
According to polling results aggregated by the website RealClear Politics, Lee has consistently trailed two other contenders, Reps. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), for the Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.).
During her time in Congress, Lee has repeatedly voted to steer money away from nuclear weapons programs, including the W76-2 low-yield, submarine-launched ballistic-missile warhead in 2018 and the sea-launched variant of the W80-4 cruise missile warhead in 2022.
