Lawmakers warned that a ‘channel’ leader could one day take control of America’s nuclear arsenal
Democrats in the House and Senate have introduced a bill that would require the White House to seek congressional approval before ordering a nuclear attack, insisting that the president should not have unilateral authority to launch a nuclear war.
Introduced Friday by Senator Ed Markey and Representative Ted Lieu, the “Nuclear First Use Restriction Act” would prohibit any US president from “launching a nuclear attack without the prior authorization of Congress,” as well as reaffirming the war powers of lawmakers under the US Constitution.
“No president has the constitutional right or authority to unilaterally declare war, let alone launch a nuclear first strike,” Sen. Markey said in a statement, while Lieu added that “no person should have the ability to launch a war that ends life as we know it.”
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Kremlin criticizes Western “hysteria” over nuclear plans
Both lawmakers accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of “nuclear threats,” arguing that the risk of nuclear war “has never been clearer” amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Moscow has rejected those charges, however, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently saying the US and its allies are “prone to a hysterical reaction” on the issue of nuclear weapons.
In their joint statement, Markey and Lieu also marked the anniversary of the April 15, 1969, downing of a North Korean spy plane by North Korean forces over the Sea of Japan, stating that a “drunken President Richard Nixon” ordered a nuclear attack in response. They noted that the order was “ignored” but said the incident nevertheless “exposed the dangerous possibility that a rogue United States president could order a nuclear attack without congressional authorization.”
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The world faces the ‘most dangerous time period in history’ – Trump
The world faces the ‘most dangerous time period in history’ – TrumpWhile a US reconnaissance craft was shot down by the DPRK in 1969 and the Nixon administration contemplated a nuclear strike in retaliation, there is little evidence to support the claim that the president ordered a strike while drunk
The two Democrats have introduced similar bills on several occasions in recent years, each trying to rein in the president’s authority to launch nuclear strikes, but have failed to do so. Although President Joe Biden promised on the campaign trail that he would work toward a policy that would only see Washington use nuclear weapons in response to nuclear attacks, he later backtracked, instead reaffirming a longstanding U.S. policy of using the bomb to deter conventional and other non-nuclear bombs. threats
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