Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) urged President Joe Biden on Thursday to alter the U.S.’s nuclear strike doctrine to prevent presidents from unilaterally ordering a nuclear first strike without congressional approval.
“With just weeks left in office, you can safeguard the system against Donald Trump or any future unstable president, and make it constitutional. We urge you to announce that henceforth it will be the policy of the United States that it will not initiate a nuclear first strike without express authorization from Congress,” said Sen. Markey and Rep. Lieu in their letter to the president.
“In a situation where the United States has already been attacked with nuclear weapons, the president would retain the option to respond unilaterally,” he added.
The Democratic lawmakers proposed the change to President Biden, suggesting that President-elect Donald Trump is unstable and might start a nuclear war.
Currently, the President, as Commander-in-Chief, has the authority to launch a nuclear strike on a hostile nation in response to conventional attacks.
The new policy would require any president to receive congressional approval before launching a nuclear strike, but it would still allow a rapid unilateral response from the president if nuclear weapons were used against the U.S.
Although the change would make it significantly more difficult for the U.S. to order a nuclear first strike, it is not a total “no first use” policy, as China and India have, because a first strike would still be possible with Congressional approval.
Russian nuclear policy also allows for first strikes if the nation, or Belarus, is directly attacked.
The proposal from Markey is based on the previously proposed Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act.
While Markey and Lieu suggested that President Trump could bring about nuclear Armageddon, his first term in office was largely peaceful.
In contrast, Biden has overseen the violent withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Israel/Hamas/Hezbollah war, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, increasing aggression from China and North Korea, and, most recently, the fall of Syria to former Al-Qaeda and ISIS Islamist terrorists.
The risk of nuclear war has, by most standards, never been higher than under Biden, as White House policy has continually brought the world to the brink of nuclear conflict, including by repeatedly crossing red lines laid out by Russia in his support for Ukraine.
That aid has included advanced F-16 aircraft, anti-personnel mines, long-range missiles, and support for Ukraine’s ground invasion of Russia’s Kursk region.
Last month, Biden authorized Ukraine to use American-supplied long-range missiles to strike deep into Russia, something that could trigger Russia to use nuclear weapons in response, according to its own strike doctrine.
Some on the right were quick to attack Markey and Lieu for their supposed hypocrisy in trusting Biden with nuclear power while seeking to deny that power to Trump.
“They were fine with a guy who’s literally senile launching nukes…But now they want to rein things in,” said Mark Hemmingway, senior writer for RealClearInvestigations.
Despite the accusations, Markey and Lieu have actually been working throughout the Biden Administration to pass the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act, suggesting that they are concerned with more than just Trump.
In 2021, the outset of the Biden Administration, Leiu put forward the bill, though it did not lead to a vote in Congress.
They tried again in April 2023, though the legislation once again failed to become law.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="33260 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=33260">4 Comments
Joe can’t a run a TV remote, let alone a nuclear weapon
Useless, irrelevant blowhards who should never be in office in the first place.
Another incredibly stupid idea from our beloved democrats .
Only an idiot would suggest something as dumb as this .
In 2026 we will have another chance to rid ourselves of this menace.
I am convinced that Democrats hate America .
Once nukes are launched the President has about 7-10 minutes to respond…