[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 81 (Tuesday, May 16, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1043]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


           THE NUCLEAR DISARMAMENT AND ECONOMIC CONVERSION ACT

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 16, 1995
  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, in this time of budget rescissions and 
cutting of social programs, I am reintroducing a bill that would aid us 
in refocusing the debate on funding priorities. The Nuclear Disarmament 
and Economic Conversion Act, which is designed to take effect when all 
foreign countries possessing nuclear weapons enact and execute similar 
legal requirements, requires the United States to disable and dismantle 
its nuclear weapons and to refrain from replacing them with weapons of 
mass destruction. In addition, the bill proposes refocusing resources 
that are currently being used for nuclear programs to address human 
needs such as housing, health care, education, agriculture, and 
environmental restoration.
  The Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act is consistent 
with current U.S. policy and moves us to the next logical level by 
redirecting resources to essential domestic needs. The disarmament 
contemplated by this legislation is not unilateral on the part of the 
United States but requires multilateral cooperation to rid the world of 
nuclear weapons.
  During the first 100 days of this Congress, many crucial programs 
were put on the chopping block--money for summer jobs for youth and 
future levels of funding for school lunches for our children. Yet, with 
the end of the cold war already making it into our children's text 
books, we have not yet refocused our priorities, nor reallocated our 
precious resources toward our most precious resource of all--our 
children. This act is a step toward that end.


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