[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 46 (Friday, April 1, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E603-E604]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 INTRODUCTION OF THE NUCLEAR WEAPONS ABOLITION AND ECONOMIC AND ENERGY 
                         CONVERSION ACT OF 2011

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, April 1, 2011

  Ms. NORTON. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing the Nuclear Weapons 
Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act of 2011, a version of 
which I have introduced since 1994, after working with the District of 
Columbia residents who were responsible for the Nuclear Disarmament and 
Economic Conversion ballot initiative passed by DC voters in 1993. This 
version of the bill now requires the United States to negotiate an 
international agreement to disable and dismantle its nuclear weapons by 
2020 and provides for strict control of fissile material and 
radioactive waste and for use of nuclear free energy resources. The 
bill continues to provide that the funds used for nuclear weapons 
programs be redirected towards human and infrastructure needs, such as 
housing, health care, Social Security and the environment. The bill is 
particularly timely as Congress continues to make cuts to important 
human and infrastructure programs and as the world confronts nuclear 
catastrophe in Japan. This year, I introduce the bill to recognize the 
Alliance of Nuclear Accountability's DC Days 2011, beginning on Monday, 
and in memory of William Thomas, who died in 2009 after demonstrating 
in front of the White House in an anti-nuclear vigil for nearly 28 
years. His efforts were the longest uninterrupted anti-war protest in 
U.S. history. William Thomas made the cause of peace the centerpiece of 
his meaningful life and was an example for us all.
  Following years of dangerous increases in U.S. nuclear capacity 
during the George W. Bush administration, President Barack Obama has 
begun to rebuild U.S. credibility with his goal of taking the necessary 
steps to achieve a world without nuclear weapons. The President's 
strong push for the New START treaty last year, when Republicans seemed 
adamant on stalling it, resulted in ratification by the Senate. The 
treaty requires the two major nuclear powers, Russia and the United 
States, continue to reduce nuclear weapons by mutually reducing their 
nuclear warheads by half and their number of intercontinental ballistic 
missiles and missile launchers, and, within sixty days of the treaty's 
entry into force, on February 5, 2011, submit to on-site inspections of 
strategic nuclear weapons facilities by the weapons experts of the 
other country.
  Despite the progress embodied by the New START treaty, the events of 
the last few weeks remind us of the urgent need to rid the world of 
nuclear weapons. The tragic nuclear catastrophe in Japan, a result of a 
massive earthquake and tsunami, demonstrates another, perhaps even more 
likely, nuclear peril. Radiation has been detected around the world 
since the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown. It is painfully ironic that 
the one country that has been attacked with nuclear weapons is now 
struggling to control its own nuclear capability after the plant 
meltdown. The U.S. has an obligation to lead in ridding the world of 
nuclear weapons.
  Today, our country has a long list of urgent domestic needs that have 
been put on the back burner even though millions of Americans have lost 
their homes and jobs. As the only nation that has used nuclear weapons 
in war, and that still possesses the largest nuclear weapons arsenal, I 
urge support for my bill to help the United States lead the world in 
redirecting funds that would otherwise go to nuclear weapons to instead 
be available for urgent domestic needs.

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