Urge Congress to pass “No First Use” legislation to prohibit starting a nuclear war — and other bills opposing nuclear weapons!

August 17, 2019 GlenAnderson International Affairs (Click to see specific nations and regions), Nuclear Weapons, Organizing & Activism (Also see Nonviolence, Outreach), Our Current Political Crisis (in addition to Trump and Trumpism), Peace (See Foreign Policy and specific nations and regions -- and ALSO see Military Spending and Nuclear Weapons), Political Parties and Elections (Also see Democracy ...) 0

SUPPORT the “No First Use” bills:

The U.S. Constitution explicitly states that only Congress can declare war, but since 1945 presidents have claimed the de facto power to start the most horribly destructive war possible without any congressional approval, and Congress has allowed that unconstitutional power to persist. We must restore the Constitution – especially now during the Trump era.

• S.200 and H.R. 669 are companion bills.
• S. 272 and H.R. 921 are companion bills.

Senator Markey and Rep. Lieu introduced Senate and House legislation (S. 200 and H.R. 669) that would limit Trump’s (or any subsequent president’s) ability to launch nuclear weapons. Their legislation would prohibit any U.S. President from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress. We need more co-sponsors and more members of Congress to vigorously support these bills.

Also, S. 272 and H.R. 921 are companions to each other. Each of these two bills is only 12 words long: “It is the policy of the United States to not use nuclear weapons first.” We need more co-sponsors and more members of Congress to vigorously support these bills.

Even while many problems are getting worse, there are some good pieces of federal legislation to REDUCE THE DANGER OF NUCLEAR WAR.  I researched a number of relevant bills in Congress and wrote the easy-to-read document I am linking here:

Federal legislation to SUPPORT or OPPOSE

Please read the information I have linked above.  You will see many bills we should urge our Congress members to support, and a few problems to oppose. Please contact your members of Congress in the opportunities I am providing below.

Members of the Olympia Coalition to Abolish Nuclear Weapons have met with staffers for Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell. They have listened politely but generally failed to take the specific actions we urged. Our House member Denny Heck did sign on to legislation opposing “first use” of nuclear weapons, but he has not been very helpful beyond that.

You can contact Patty Murray through her website, www.murray.senate.gov, or by phone in Washington DC at 202-224-2621 or toll-free 866-481-9186 or in Seattle at 206-553-5545.

You can contact Maria Cantwell through her website, www.cantwell.senate.gov, or by phone in Washington DC at 202-224-3441 or in Seattle at 206-220-6400.

You can contact Denny Heck through his website, www.dennyheck.house.gov or by phone in Washington DC at 202-225-9740 or in Lacey at 360-459-8514.

Thank you for doing whatever you can to prevent nuclear war!

 

Progressives should promote the “NO FIRST USE” policy.  See this article from The Nation magazine:

https://www.thenation.com/article/nuclear-weapons-no-first-use-john-bolton-donald-trump/

 

 

 

About GlenAnderson 1514 Articles
Since the late 1960s Glen Anderson has devoted his life to working as a volunteer for peace, nonviolence, social justice, and progressive political issues. He has worked through many existing organizations and started several. Over the years he has worked especially for such wide-ranging goals as making peace with Vietnam, eliminating nuclear weapons, converting from a military economy to a peacetime economy, abolishing the death penalty, promoting nonviolence at all levels throughout society, and helping people organize and strategize for grassroots movements to solve many kinds of problems. He writes, speaks, and conducts training workshops on a wide variety of topics. Since 1987 he has produced and hosted a one-hour cable TV interview program on many kinds of issues. Since 2017 he has blogged at https://parallaxperspectives.org He lives in Lacey near Olympia WA. You can reach him at (360) 491-9093 glen@parallaxperspectives.org