Lawmakers this week introduced new legislation in the House and Senate that would prevent the president from conducting a first-use nuclear strike without first obtaining a declaration of war by Congress.
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Sen. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) on Tuesday submitted the legislation, called the “Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2016.”
The bill language says “the President may not use the Armed Forces of the United States to conduct a first-use nuclear strike unless such strike is conducted pursuant to a declaration of war by Congress that expressly authorizes such strike.”
Current U.S. policy leaves the door open for first use against nuclear-weapon states under extreme circumstances. While President Barack Obama was reported to be considering a “no first use” nuclear policy during his final months in office, more recently he was said to have decided against the move in the face of opposition from top Cabinet members and key U.S. allies.
Markey said in a statement announcing the bills that “by maintaining the option of using nuclear weapons first in a conflict, U.S. policy increases the risk of unintended nuclear escalation.”
Lieu said in a statement, “Our Founding Fathers would be rolling over in their graves if they knew the President could launch a massive, potentially civilization-ending military strike without authorization from Congress.”
“The current nuclear launch approval process, which gives the decision to potentially end civilization as we know it to a single individual, is flatly unconstitutional,” Lieu said.
Markey spokeswoman Giselle Barry said by email that the Senate legislation has been referred to the Foreign Relations Committee, the House version to the Foreign Affairs Committee, and that nothing can happen on the bill until the lame duck session of Congress. “Beyond that, Senator Markey is committed to reintroducing the legislation in the next Congress,” she said.
Last week, during the hearing on Air Force Gen. John Hyten’s nomination to lead U.S. Strategic Command, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) also emphasized that a nuclear strike in some cases would require a declaration of war, which would require congressional approval. Republicans, though, have generally supported sustaining the first-strike policy.
Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Tuesday during a visit to Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico that there are no current plans to change U.S. nuclear first-use policy. Longstanding U.S. policy has been to extend its nuclear umbrella to allies, and “our future plans will retain for the United States the capability to meet those alliance commitments in the future,” he said.