II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 192
To restrict the first-use strike of nuclear weapons.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY22, 2025
Mr. M
ARKEY(for himself, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. WARREN, Mr. VANHOLLEN,
Mr. W
ELCH, Mr. SANDERS, and Mr. WYDEN) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Re-
lations
A BILL
To restrict the first-use strike of nuclear weapons.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restricting First Use 4
of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND DECLARATION OF POLICY. 6
(a) F
INDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7
(1) The Constitution gives Congress the sole 8
power to declare war. 9
(2) The framers of the Constitution understood 10
that the monumental decision to go to war, which 11
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•S 192 IS
can result in massive death and the destruction of 1
civilized society, must be made by the representa-2
tives of the people and not by a single person. 3
(3) As stated by section 2(c) of the War Powers 4
Resolution (Public Law 93–148; 50 U.S.C. 1541), 5
‘‘the constitutional powers of the President as Com-6
mander-in-Chief to introduce United States Armed 7
Forces into hostilities, or into situations where im-8
minent involvement in hostilities is clearly indicated 9
by the circumstances, are exercised only pursuant to 10
(1) a declaration of war, (2) specific statutory au-11
thorization, or (3) a national emergency created by 12
attack upon the United States, its territories or pos-13
sessions, or its armed forces’’. 14
(4) Nuclear weapons are uniquely powerful 15
weapons that have the capability to instantly kill 16
millions of people, create long-term health and envi-17
ronmental consequences throughout the world, di-18
rectly undermine global peace, and put the United 19
States at existential risk from retaliatory nuclear 20
strikes. 21
(5) A first-use nuclear strike carried out by the 22
United States would constitute a major act of war. 23
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(6) A first-use nuclear strike conducted absent 1
a declaration of war by Congress would violate the 2
Constitution. 3
(7) The President has the sole authority to au-4
thorize the use of nuclear weapons, an order which 5
military officers of the United States must carry out 6
in accordance with their obligations under the Uni-7
form Code of Military Justice. 8
(8) Given its exclusive power under the Con-9
stitution to declare war, Congress must provide 10
meaningful checks and balances to the President’s 11
sole authority to authorize the use of a nuclear 12
weapon. 13
(b) D
ECLARATION OFPOLICY.—It is the policy of the 14
United States that no first-use nuclear strike should be 15
conducted absent a declaration of war by Congress. 16
SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON CONDUCT OF FIRST-USE NU-17
CLEAR STRIKES. 18
(a) P
ROHIBITION.—No Federal funds may be obli-19
gated or expended to conduct a first-use nuclear strike un-20
less such strike is conducted pursuant to a war declared 21
by Congress that expressly authorizes such strike. 22
(b) F
IRST-USENUCLEARSTRIKEDEFINED.—In this 23
section, the term ‘‘first-use nuclear strike’’ means an at-24
tack using nuclear weapons against an enemy that is con-25
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ducted without the Secretary of Defense and the Chair-1
man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff first confirming to the 2
President that there has been a nuclear strike against the 3
United States, its territories, or its allies (as specified in 4
section 3(b)(2) of the Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 5
2753(b)(2))). 6
Æ
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