HR 3 (LSB 1315HH (2) 88)

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 3

BY  ANDERSON

A Resolution urging Iowa’s congressional delegation to take all necessary measures to limit the authority of any President of the United States to order a preemptive launch of nuclear weapons.

   WHEREAS, there are over 15,000 nuclear weapons globally, most of which are possessed by the United States and Russia, and most of which are significantly more destructive than those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan, during World War II; and
   WHEREAS, use and detonation of even a small number of nuclear weapons would have catastrophic human, environmental, and economic consequences globally, impacting everyone on the planet; and
   WHEREAS, the first use of nuclear weapons, including by the United States, against any other nuclear-armed nation could result in that nation’s immediate retaliation and invite the near-total destruction of the United States, including the state of Iowa; and
   WHEREAS, according to projections using blast radius and ambient population data, compiled by Assistant Professor Alex Wellerstein of the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, a single nuclear detonation in Chicago, Illinois, would cause upwards of 2,767,440 fatalities, 2,089,050 injuries, and affect 7,687,045 people within range of the detonation in the first 24 hours, including many Iowans; and
   WHEREAS, the citizens of Iowa deserve to live a life free from the threat of the reckless use of nuclear weapons; and
   WHEREAS, development, maintenance, and storage of nuclear weapons drain precious taxpayer resources while failing to make Iowa and the nation safer from 21st century national security concerns such as cyberattacks, terrorism, and climate change; and
   WHEREAS, religious and military leaders, nuclear experts, and over 300 former heads of state from around the world have called for urgent action to eliminate all nuclear weapons globally; and
   WHEREAS, every President of the United States since President Ronald Reagan has worked to reduce global nuclear stockpiles in an effort to ultimately eliminate these weapons of mass destruction; and
   WHEREAS, according to a Congressional Budget Office report, the United States is expected to spend $1 trillion over the next 30 years to upgrade its nuclear arsenal, money that could be better spent to improve education, health care, job creation, and infrastructure; and
   WHEREAS, a President of the United States has the sole and unilateral power to launch a nuclear war without any consultation with congressional leaders and without any system of checks and balances to the exercise of this power; NOW THEREFORE,

   BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, That the Iowa House of Representatives urges Iowa’s congressional delegation to take all necessary steps to establish a system of checks and balances on the preemptive use of nuclear weapons to ensure that a President of the Untied States will not have sole and unchecked authority to launch nuclear weapons, except in circumstances of retaliation for an attack on the United States.