Two Democratic lawmakers are pushing President Joe Biden to sign on to an effort to restrict presidential authority over the use of nuclear weapons ahead of President-elect Donald Trump taking office.
Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts and Rep. Ted Lieu of California wrote to Biden on Thursday to urge him to support legislation that would block presidents from ordering a first-strike with a nuclear weapon. Markey and Lieu’s legislation, the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act, has been introduced to Congress numerous times since 2015.
“Mr. President, with just weeks left in office, you can safeguard the system against Donald Trump or any future unstable president, and make it constitutional,” the Democratic lawmakers wrote.
To make their case, they provided examples of military leaders who, under the Nixon and Trump administrations, took steps to undermine the president’s constitutional authority over nuclear weapons. Rather than denouncing such action, the lawmakers argued that a legislative fix is needed to keep the decision to launch a preemptive nuclear strike out of the hands of “just one fallible human.”
Despite the concerns of former Defense Secretary James Schlesinger under former President Richard Nixon and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley under Trump, neither president threatened to launch a preemptive nuclear strike. […]
— Read More: www.dailywire.com
