HF 669

as introduced - 91st Legislature (2019 - 2020) Posted on 02/04/2019 03:04pm

A resolution
calling for the United States to "pull back from the brink" and prevent nuclear war.

WHEREAS, since the height of the Cold War, the United States and Russia have dismantled
more than 50,000 nuclear warheads, but 15,000 of these weapons still exist and pose an intolerable
risk to human survival; and

WHEREAS, 95 percent of these weapons are in the hands of the United States and Russia
and the rest are held by seven other countries: China, France, Israel, India, North Korea, Pakistan,
and the United Kingdom; and

WHEREAS, the use of even a tiny fraction of these weapons would cause worldwide climate
disruption and global famine; to wit, as few as 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs, small by modern
standards, would put at least five million tons of soot into the upper atmosphere and cause climate
disruption across the planet, cutting food production and putting two billion people at risk of
starvation; and

WHEREAS, a large-scale nuclear war would kill hundreds of millions of people directly and
cause unimaginable environmental damage and catastrophic climate disruption, dropping
temperatures across the planet to levels not seen since the last ice age; under these conditions the
vast majority of the human race would starve and it is possible we would become extinct as a
species; and

WHEREAS, despite assurances that these arsenals exist solely to guarantee that they are
never used, there have been many occasions when nuclear armed states have prepared to use these
weapons, and war has been averted only at the last minute; and

WHEREAS, nuclear weapons do not possess a magical quality that prevents their use; and

WHEREAS, former Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, speaking about the Cuban Missile
Crisis, said "It was luck that prevented nuclear war," yet our nuclear policy cannot be the hope that
our luck will continue; and

WHEREAS, as the effects of climate change place increased stress on communities around
the world and intensify the likelihood of conflict, the danger of nuclear war will grow; and

WHEREAS, the planned expenditure of more than $1 trillion to enhance our nuclear arsenal
will not only increase the risk of nuclear disaster but fuel a global arms race and divert crucial
resources needed to ensure the well-being of the American people and people all over the world;
and

WHEREAS, there is an alternative to this march to nuclear war: in July 2017, 122 nations
called for the elimination of all nuclear weapons by adopting the Treaty on the Prohibition of
Nuclear Weapons; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it urges the President
and the Congress of the United States to embrace the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
and make nuclear disarmament the centerpiece of our national security policy.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota that it calls upon
our federal leaders and our nation to spearhead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by:

• renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first;

• ending the president's sole, unchecked authority to launch a nuclear attack;

• taking U.S. nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert;

• canceling the plan to replace its entire arsenal with enhanced weapons; and

• actively pursuing a verifiable agreement among nuclear armed states to eliminate their
nuclear arsenals.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the State of Minnesota is directed
to prepare copies of this memorial and transmit them to the President of the United States, the
President and the Secretary of the United States Senate, the Speaker and the Clerk of the United
States House of Representatives, the chair of the Senate Committees on Armed Services and Foreign
Relations, the chair of the House Committees on Armed Services and Foreign Affairs, and
Minnesota's Senators and Representatives in Congress.