Senator introduced legislation prohibiting any American president from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress
Boston (February 23, 2017) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, rejected President Donald Trump’s false and irresponsible claim in a Reuters interview that the United States had fallen behind Russia in nuclear arms. President Trump has previously called for the U.S. to “strengthen and expand its nuclear capability,” declaring, “let it be an arms race.” Senator Markey and Congressman Ted W. Lieu (CA-33) introduced the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017, legislation that would prohibit any American president from launching a nuclear first strike without a declaration of war by Congress.
 
“President Trump’s claim that the United States has fallen behind Russia in nuclear weapons is another of the administration’s ‘alternative facts,’ ” said Senator Markey, co-founder of the Congressional Bipartisan Task Force on Nonproliferation. ‎“The United States has more nuclear weapons than it needs. The ignorance President Trump continues to display of nuclear arms control increases the risk of a resurgent nuclear arms race with Russia and imperils the progress made by both Republican and Democratic presidents to ensure the security of the American people. Instead of inviting a new arms race with Russia and wasting billions of dollars on new nuclear weapons that make Americans less safe, President Trump should pursue diplomacy to reduce the number of nuclear weapons.”