[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 71 (Monday, April 26, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E449]
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 2021

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                       HON. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON

                      of the district of columbia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 26, 2021

  Ms. NORTON. Madam Speaker, today, I introduce the Nuclear Weapons 
Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act of 2021, 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 D.C. voters in 1993. My 
bill still requires the United States to sign and ratify an 
international agreement to disable and dismantle America's nuclear 
weapons, to provide for strict control of fissile material and 
radioactive waste and to use nuclear-free energy. In lieu of joining 
such an agreement, this version of the bill also gives the United 
States the option to ratify the United Nations Treaty on the 
Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Treaty). Many nations have already 
signed the Treaty. The Treaty was drafted by the United Nations in 
conferences in March and July of 2017, which is why I did not include 
it in my previous bills. According to the United Nations, the Treaty is 
``a legally binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading 
towards their total elimination.'' I am pleased by the international 
progress on this important issue.
  The bill continues to provide that the funds used for nuclear weapons 
be redirected to human and infrastructure needs, such as housing, 
health care, Social Security, restoring the environment, and creating 
carbon-free, nuclear-free energy. The conversion to a peace economy 
would occur when the President certifies to Congress that all countries 
possessing nuclear weapons have begun elimination under an 
international treaty or other legal agreement.
  Our country still has a long list of urgent domestic needs that have 
been put on the back burner. As the only nation that has used nuclear 
weapons in war, and that still possesses one of the largest nuclear 
weapons arsenals, my bill would help the United States reestablish its 
moral leadership in the world by redirecting funds that would otherwise 
go to nuclear weapons to urgent domestic needs.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

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