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NORTON INTRODUCES BILL FOR TRANSFER OF WEAPON FUNDS TO
DOMESTIC NEEDS
Criticizes Bush for Decreasing Funding for Nuclear Threat
Reduction
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 16, 2005
http://www.norton.house.gov/issues2.cfm?id=10279Washington, DC — Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC)
reintroduced the Nuclear Disarmament and Economic Conversion
Act of 2005 (NDECA) today as Japan and the United States
mark the 60th anniversary of the devastation of Japanese
cities by an atomic bomb by the United States to end World
War II. NDECA would require the United States to disable
and dismantle its nuclear weapons when all other nations
possessing nuclear weapons enact laws to do the same.
NDECA further provides that when our nuclear weapons are
dismantled, the resources used to support nuclear weapons
programs would be diverted to our growing human and
infrastructure needs, such as housing, health care, Social
Security and the environment.
Norton has introduced this bill every year following a
ballot initiative in the District in 1993.
The Congresswoman said: “In addition to the economic cost of
nuclear weapons, the weapons have increased as a
destabilizing force in world affairs.” Norton, a member of
the Homeland Security Committee, said that the threat was
greatest today from inadequately defended nuclear materials
throughout the world. She criticized the Bush
administration for reducing nuclear threat spending since
9/11. Norton said that with 45 million people still without
health care, Social Security without the benefits for the
huge baby boomer generation, an economy burdened with a
dangerous deficit, and millions of Americans pushed back
into poverty, the time has come to begin transferring
funding for nuclear weapons to urgent domestic needs.
Norton’s full introductory statement follows:
Mr. Speaker, today, I am again introducing the Nuclear
Disarmament and Economic Conversion Act (NDECA), as I have
done since 1994. I have introduced this bill every year
based on a ballot initiative passed by D.C. residents in
1993. NDECA will require the United States to disable and
dismantle its nuclear weapons when all other nations
possessing nuclear weapons enact laws to do the same. NDECA
further provides that when U.S. nuclear weapons are
dismantled, the resources used to support nuclear weapon
programs would be diverted to our growing human and
infrastructure needs, such as housing, health care, Social
Security and the environment.
This year’s introduction of this bill has special meaning
because this is the sixtieth anniversary of the U.S. bombing
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Only the United States has used
an atom bomb, but today the number of nations with this
capability has grown dangerously and continues without
effective intervention by the Bush administration.
In addition to the economic cost of nuclear weapons, the
weapons have increased as a destabilizing force in world
affairs. North Korea, at least in part in response to
stepped up aggressive talk and U.S. policies, has responded
in a dangerously paranoid fashion by announcing that it is
expanding its nuclear capabilities and even that it now has
a nuclear weapon, although these claims have not been
entirely verified. Iran also appears to be pursuing greater
nuclear capability and is resisting inspections. India and
Pakistan have moved back from the precipice of several years
ago but each remains poised with nuclear weapons.
This country must lead the world community in redoubling
efforts to push back the new surge of nuclear proliferation.
Our country would be better able to dissuade other nations
who aspire to become or remain nuclear powers if we
ourselves took greater initiative in dismantling our own
nuclear weapons program. We moved in the right direction
when the Senate ratified the Moscow Treaty in 2003, which
provides that by 2012 both the United States and Russia will
reduce their long-range warheads two-thirds from
approximately 6,000 warheads each to 2,200. However, the
Administration has failed to build on this effort.
According to a recent study, “Securing The Bomb: An Agenda
for Action” (May, 2004; prepared by the Belfer Center,
Harvard University Kennedy School of Government): “Total
nuclear-threat-reduction spending remains less than one
quarter of one percent of the U.S. military budget. Indeed,
on average, the Bush administration requests for
nuclear-threat-reduction spending over FY 2002 – 2005 have
been less, in real terms, than the last Clinton
administration request, made long before the 9/11 attacks
ever occurred.”
However, the problem today is far more complicated than
nuclear disarmament by nation states. The greatest threat
today is from inadequately defended and guarded sites in
many countries where there is enough material to make
nuclear weapons and many opportunities for terrorists to
secure nuclear materials. Astonishingly, because of the
absence of presidential leadership, less nuclear material
was seized in the two years following the 9/11 attacks than
in the two years immediately preceding the attacks
(“Securing The Bomb: An Agenda for Action”, May 2004).
I serve on the Prevention of Nuclear and Biological Attack
Subcommittee of the Homeland Security Committee. I know that
threats from nuclear proliferation and available nuclear
material are more dangerous in the post 9/11 era than at any
time since I first introduced this bill in 1994. The way to
begin is closing down nuclear capability here and around the
world.
With 45 million people still without health insurance,
Social Security without the benefits for the huge baby
boomer generation, an economy burdened with a dangerous
deficit, and millions of Americans pushed back into poverty
during the last four years, the time has come to begin the
transfer of nuclear weapons funds to urgent domestic needs.
Proposition One Committee
P.O. Box 27217, Washington, DC 20038 USA
202-682-4282 (phone and fax)
prop1@prop1.org |
http://prop1.org~ Peace Through Reason - Convert the War Machines! ~
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