Risk of Conflict with Nuclear Weapons

Floor Speech

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Ms. OMAR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to, once again, call on the United States to join the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons and for all of the world's nuclear armed powers to adopt policies of mutual disarmament and abolition.

In a few short weeks we will mark the 80th anniversary of the only time nuclear weapons have been used in combat by the United States in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. The fact is in 80 years since, we have only avoided nuclear war by sheer luck. As long as countries possess massive arsenals of world-destroying weapons, the risk of miscalculation and the risk of escalation is eternal.

In the last few years, we have seen multiple situations that remind us of the extent of this fragility and of the danger. Nuclear-armed India exchanged fire with nuclear-armed Pakistan just this year. Cooler heads prevailed, this time.

Nuclear-armed Israel conducted unilateral strikes on facilities in Iran. That war didn't go nuclear this time.

Nuclear-armed Russia continues its brutal war of conquest in Ukraine. We are avoiding escalations that increase the threats of nuclear war between Russia and the West so far.

The truth is, the era of nuclear weapons will only end in one of two ways. Either we will abolish these horrific weapons from the face of the Earth, or we will use them and abolish humanity instead.

The only sane position and the only legitimate position for anyone who values human life is abolition.

In addition, more than one-half of the countries in the world have now formally agreed signing on to the TPNW. We should join them.

That is because just as we have gotten terrifyingly close to nuclear war in these past 80 years, we have gotten close to disarmament. It is not a pipe dream. Reagan and Gorbachev also did it. South Africa unilaterally dismantled their arsenal. Other countries have stopped developing nuclear weapons before they got the bomb.

It is possible to disarm, and it is possible to abolish nuclear weapons. We only need the political will, and we need the urgency.

Finally, Mr. Speaker, you will note that I said the bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki were the only nuclear weapons used in combat, but they were not--we must be absolutely clear--the only times nuclear weapons have been used.

In fact, nuclear weapons have been used thousands of times, and their primary targets have been Americans. We also mark this month the 80th anniversary of the Trinity test in New Mexico. So we should remember that entire communities have been poisoned by these weapons right here in the United States. Entire generations have seen their families, their friends, and their classmates die of rare cancers caused by radiation exposure. They have been forced to drink poisoned water and breathe poisoned air.

The effects on the communities known as the downwinders have been catastrophic, and their suffering is still, sadly, mostly unknown in this country. We have made some small steps toward providing overdue compensation to these Americans, the first and the most consistent victims of our nuclear weapons program, but we still are a long way from justice.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. McGovern for hosting this Special Order hour tonight and for his years of principled leadership on this issue.

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