Bill Text: IL HR0061 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Calls on the United States to develop a policy that it will not be the first to use nuclear weapons.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Passed) 2019-05-15 - Resolution Adopted [HR0061 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2019-HR0061-Introduced.html
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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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2 | WHEREAS, The use of even a small number of nuclear weapons | ||||||
3 | could have catastrophic human,
environmental, health, and | ||||||
4 | economic consequences globally; and
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5 | WHEREAS, Approximately 14,000 nuclear weapons still exist | ||||||
6 | in the world and pose an intolerable risk to humanity; and
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7 | WHEREAS, The United States has over 6,000 nuclear weapons, | ||||||
8 | which combined are more than 100 times
more powerful than all | ||||||
9 | the weapons used during World War II; and
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10 | WHEREAS, The United States is currently planning to spend | ||||||
11 | nearly $2 trillion over the next 30 years
rebuilding its entire | ||||||
12 | nuclear weapons arsenal; this is a gross misuse of funds that | ||||||
13 | could instead be devoted to
improving security, health, and | ||||||
14 | education; and
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15 | WHEREAS, The United States maintains nearly 1,000 nuclear | ||||||
16 | weapons on high alert so they are ready for
launch within | ||||||
17 | minutes of a presidential decision to do so, making them | ||||||
18 | vulnerable to accidents,
unauthorized use, cyber attacks, and | ||||||
19 | miscalculations, thereby increasing the risk of nuclear use; | ||||||
20 | and
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1 | WHEREAS, The United States currently reserves the right to | ||||||
2 | use nuclear weapons in response to
non-nuclear attacks by | ||||||
3 | Russia, China, or North Korea, nations that could respond by | ||||||
4 | using their own nuclear
weapons, resulting in a nuclear war | ||||||
5 | that could have devastating consequences; and
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6 | WHEREAS, The sole purpose of U.S. nuclear weapons should be | ||||||
7 | to deter a nuclear attack on the United
States, its forces, and | ||||||
8 | its allies; there is no reason for the United States to ever | ||||||
9 | use nuclear
weapons first; and
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10 | WHEREAS, The U.S. President has sole authority to order a | ||||||
11 | nuclear attack without any consultation or
input; leaving the | ||||||
12 | decision to one individual increases the chance of a nuclear | ||||||
13 | weapon being used; and
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14 | WHEREAS, A policy renouncing the first use of nuclear | ||||||
15 | weapons would severely constrain the ability of
the President | ||||||
16 | to order a nuclear attack, allowing attacks only in response to | ||||||
17 | a nuclear attack; and
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18 | WHEREAS, Americans and all people on the planet should have | ||||||
19 | the right to live a life free from the threat
of nuclear | ||||||
20 | weapons; and
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21 | WHEREAS, The United States should immediately change its |
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1 | policies, as well as actively pursue
verifiable agreements with | ||||||
2 | other nuclear-armed nations to reduce the number of nuclear | ||||||
3 | weapons and
eliminate them from the planet; therefore, be it
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4 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | ||||||
5 | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that, | ||||||
6 | as an important first step, we call on the President of the | ||||||
7 | United States to
make it the policy of the U.S. that it will | ||||||
8 | not start a nuclear war and therefore will not use
nuclear | ||||||
9 | weapons first, and we call on the United States Congress to | ||||||
10 | pass legislation supporting this policy; and be it further
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11 | RESOLVED, That we call on Congress to not fund the
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12 | development and production of additional U.S. nuclear weapons | ||||||
13 | that can produce a relatively small
nuclear explosion, making | ||||||
14 | them suitable for rogue nuclear war-fighting and potentially | ||||||
15 | lowering the
threshold to using nuclear weapons first; and be | ||||||
16 | it further
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17 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
18 | delivered to the President of the United States, the Vice | ||||||
19 | President of the United States, the U.S. Senate Majority | ||||||
20 | Leader, the U.S. Senate Minority Leader, the U.S. Speaker of | ||||||
21 | the House, the U.S. House of Representatives Minority Leader, | ||||||
22 | and all members of the Illinois Congressional Delegation.
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