On April 18, 2013, Washington DC's Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced the HR-1650, the "Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion Act" which calls on the United States government to negotiate a multilateral treaty for the dismantlement and elimination of all nuclear weapons in every country by not later than 2020; and for strict and effective international control of such dismantlement and elimination.
Holmes Norton, in introducing the Act, noted that “Following years of dangerous increases in U.S. nuclear capacity during the George W. Bush administration, President Barack Obama has begun to rebuild U.S. credibility with his goal of taking the necessary steps to achieve a world without nuclear weapons.”
"Today, our country has a long list of urgent domestic needs that have been put on the back burner even though millions of Americans have lost their homes and jobs and sequestration has started. As the only nation that has used nuclear weapons in war, and that still possesses the largest nuclear weapons arsenal, I urge support for my bill to help the United States lead the world in redirecting funds that would otherwise go to nuclear weapons to be available for urgent domestic needs."
The Act calls on the government to “redirect resources that are being used for nuclear weapons programs to use in converting all nuclear weapons industry employees, processes, plants, and programs smoothly to constructive, ecologically beneficial peacetime activities, including strict control of all fissile material and radioactive waste, during the period in which nuclear weapons must be dismantled and eliminated,” and to address “human and infrastructure needs, including development and deployment of sustainable carbon-free and nuclear-free energy sources, health care, housing, education, agriculture, and environmental restoration, including long-term radioactive waste monitoring.”
Congresswoman Holmes Norton has introduced different versions of this Act since 1994, after a nuclear disarmament ballot initiative (Proposition 1) was adopted by Washington D.C. voters in 1993. She is now appealing on fellow US congress members to support the Act.
This year in introducing the Act, Norton recognized the memory of William Thomas, who died in 2009, after holding his anti-nuclear vigil for nearly 28 years, the longest uninterrupted anti-war protest in front of the White House.
See: Statement by Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton on introducing the Act.
Contact: Ellen Thomas
Proposition One Campaign for Nuclear Weapons Abolition and Economic and Energy Conversion, for a Safe, Sane, and Prosperous Future
PO Box 26, Tryon, NC 28782
202-210-3886 (cell)
828-859-8325
et@prop1.org
http://prop1.org/ellen.htm
http://prop1.org
http://www.youtube.com/user/Proposition1campaign/videos?view=0