Pelosi: Passing A ‘No-First-Use’ Law On Nuclear Weapons Is ‘Urgent’

(CNSNews.com) – Any legislation regarding the first-use of nuclear weapons by the United States must be bipartisan and apply to all current and future U.S. presidents, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told a news conference on Thursday.

“I put this in the category of urgent. We take an oath to protect and defend,” she said.

Pelosi said an “ancient” law, dating back to 1946, currently authorizes the president of the United States to exercise the first use of nuclear weapons. “It was in a different world, and now I think it is necessary for us to address it,” she said of the 1946 law.

“There are all kinds of proposals out there, one saying — declaring the United States of America will not engage in first use of a nuclear weapon. I like that one best.”

Pelosi said other proposals would require the president to get the advice of “some people in his cabinet,” to be determined, before launching a nuclear first strike.

“So, more to come on that. I believe that as we go forward with anything like that, it has to be in a bipartisan way, because it’s about all presidents, no matter who (he) or she may be down the road.”

A reporter asked Pelosi if Congress’s sudden attention to no-first-use has something to do with concerns that President Trump will launch a nuclear weapon at North Korea and lead the U.S. into World War III, as Sen. Bob Corker suggested recently.

“Well, this doesn’t’ really have to do with him, it has to do with the presidency of any president,” Pelosi said. “Now, I remind, if our country is attacked, the War Powers Act triggers for the executive any and all powers. But there is interest in the U.S. establishing itself as no first use.

President Trump often has scorned the notion of presidents letting the enemy know ahead of time what the United States may or may not do.

(First reported by CNS News) https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/susan-jones/pelosi-passing-no-first-use-law-nuclear-weapons-urgent   (October 12, 2017) 

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