The Increasing Threat of Nuclear Weapons

Floor Speech

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Ms. TLAIB. Mr. Speaker, we know that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. There are roughly 13,000 nuclear weapons currently stored in bunkers, missile silos, warehouses, airfields, and Navy bases all around the world.

One warhead has the power to wipe out an entire city. A full-scale nuclear war could devastate life as we know it. The catastrophic risks posed by nuclear weapons are growing. We know that Putin continues to recklessly threaten the use of nuclear force in the war in Ukraine, and genocidal maniac Netanyahu continues to recklessly raise the nuclear threat level all across the Middle East.

The White House and Congress need to double down on efforts to work toward diplomacy and negotiate new constraints to cap and further reduce nuclear arsenals.

We must implement a new nuclear arms control framework to prevent an unrestrained nuclear arms race. It is absolutely terrifying, Mr. Speaker, for many of our residents in the United States that the President of the United States has the power to decide to launch a nuclear weapon right now. Think about that for just one moment.

The use of just a fraction of the nuclear weapons we possess, most of which are ready for launch within minutes of an order from any President, would lead to mass destruction on an unprecedented global scale.

Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle should back commonsense efforts to adopt measures to reduce the risk of nuclear war. We must continue to work toward an international agreement, Mr. Speaker, with all countries that possess nuclear weapons through a very Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty that we already have.

Also, many of my residents continue to say: Stop. Stop the United States from being addicted to wars. We could be using so much of these resources to fund clean water, to fund housing, to fund childcare, and so much more that invests in the future and not the end of our world.

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