Mr. President, I come to the floor to speak on behalf of the amendment being offered by my colleagues Senator Warren from Massachusetts and Ranking Member Jack Reed from Rhode Island. I strongly support this amendment, and I want to explain why. A nuclear weapon is a nuclear weapon, period. They are the only human-made force that could destroy all of humanity in a matter of minutes. They annihilate utterly and completely. The size of the bomb does not matter. Using any nuclear weapon is a step so grave that it is, in and of itself, an act of war. It also invites nuclear retaliation. That is why President Ronald Reagan was right when he said: ``A nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.'' Nuclear weapons are fundamentally different than any other military capability we possess. Congress must have a role in determining when these weapons are developed, how they are managed, and if, Heaven forbid, we must ever use them again. Oversight is one of the fundamental responsibilities of this body, and on no issue is it more important than nuclear weapons. That is why I support what Senator Warren and Senator Reed are doing. It rightly protects the role Congress must play in determining if and when we as a nation decide to develop more of the most lethal weapons on the planet. What Senator Warren and Senator Reed are doing is ensuring that Congress must authorize developing new or modified nuclear weapons because that is all important.…
Share & report
More from Ed Markey
Mr. President, I am here to speak in opposition to the confirmation of Senator Kelly Loeffler to serve as Administrator of the Small Business Administration. I am concerned for the more than 722,000 small businesses that call Massachusetts…
Disappearances like these are part of Trump’s all-out assault on our basic freedoms. This is authoritarianism, and we will not let this stand.
Mr. President, funding for Alzheimer's research at the NIH is essential. Nearly 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's right now, and if nothing changes, 15 million Americans--15 million baby boomers--will have Alzheimer's by 2050…
I think it is the most well-financed lobbying effort in Washington, DC. I think they have had an ownership of this building for a hundred years, and they are afraid it is about to slip away. Would the gentleman from Rhode Island agree with…





