[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 1045 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. RES. 1045
Recognizing the paramount need to address the threat of international
terrorism and protect the global security of the United States by
reducing the number and accessibility of nuclear weapons and preventing
their proliferation, and directing a portion of the resulting savings
towards child survival, hunger, and universal education, and calling on
the President to take action to achieve these goals.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
March 13, 2008
Mr. McGovern (for himself and Mr. Daniel E. Lungren of California)
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee
on Foreign Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Recognizing the paramount need to address the threat of international
terrorism and protect the global security of the United States by
reducing the number and accessibility of nuclear weapons and preventing
their proliferation, and directing a portion of the resulting savings
towards child survival, hunger, and universal education, and calling on
the President to take action to achieve these goals.
Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation have in the past entered
into arms control treaties providing for reductions of several thousand
nuclear delivery systems, including the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty
of 1991 (START I) and the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty of
1987 (INF);
Whereas both countries retain several thousand nuclear weapons, delivery
systems, and supporting infrastructure at a cost of many billions of
dollars;
Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation now face different threats
to their security since the end of the Cold War, notably that of
international terrorism;
Whereas international terrorism, particularly the danger posed by a terrorist
entity acquiring a nuclear explosive device, requires that the countries
redouble efforts to prevent the proliferation of such devices and the
technology to produce them;
Whereas since 1992, the Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program of assistance
to the Russian Federation and certain other states of the former Soviet
Union, initiated under the leadership of Senators Sam Nunn and Richard
Lugar, has proven an effective and necessary tool to combat the
proliferation of weapons of mass destruction at a cost far below that of
maintaining such weapons;
Whereas additional reductions in nuclear armaments of both the United States and
the Russian Federation, together with other nuclear powers, will--
(1) meet the objective of the eventual elimination of nuclear weapons
as prescribed in Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of
Nuclear Weapons and the vision of a nuclear-weapon-free world of Presidents
Reagan and Gorbachev at the Reykjavik Summit of 1986;
(2) reduce the number of nuclear weapons subject to diversion or theft
by terrorist groups; and
(3) eventually make available additional funds in the range of tens of
billions of dollars to further enhance international security, reduce world
poverty, and address the root causes of international terrorism;
Whereas the United States and the Russian Federation, committed by international
agreement as well as joint commitments by their respective Presidents,
will reduce nuclear armaments in coming years and will encourage other
countries to do likewise;
Whereas the Task Force on Department of Energy Nonproliferation Programs with
Russia, commonly known as the Baker-Cutler Task Force, recommended in
its final report of January 10, 2001, significant increases in the
amounts of funding devoted to securing nuclear arsenals and other
weapons of mass destruction;
Whereas the savings generated in the long term by significant reduction of
nuclear armaments will be appreciable, with estimates as high as
$13,000,000,000 annually, even in the face of the extra costs of
eliminating a large portion of the nuclear arsenals of both the Russian
Federation and the United States;
Whereas on March 22, 2002, President George W. Bush stated that ``We fight
against poverty because hope is an answer to terror. We fight against
poverty because opportunity is a fundamental right to human dignity. We
fight against poverty because faith requires it and conscience demands
it. We fight against poverty with a growing conviction that major
progress is within our reach.'';
Whereas the 2002 National Security Strategy of the United States of America,
issued by the White House, noted that ``a world where some live in
comfort and plenty, while half of the human race lives on less than $2
per day, is neither just nor stable. Including all of the world's poor
in an expanding circle of development and opportunity is a moral
imperative and one of the top priorities of U.S. international policy'';
Whereas the final report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon
the United States (more commonly known as the 9/11 Commission Report),
issued on July 22, 2004, recommended that a comprehensive U.S. strategy
to counter terrorism should include policies that encourage development,
more open societies, and opportunities that improve the lives of
families and enhance prospects for their children's futures;
Whereas addressing the needs of the very poor in the world, particularly
children, reduces a source of international tension and local despair
that contribute to terrorist initiatives;
Whereas despite significant progress worldwide in reducing child mortality rates
over time, the State of the World's Children 2008: Child Survival,
released by UNICEF in January 2008, reports that 9,700,000 children
under the age of 5 die every year, most from preventable and treatable
causes;
Whereas investing in the health and nutrition of children and their mothers is a
sound economic decision and one of the surest ways for a country to set
its course toward a better future;
Whereas international health experts estimate that an additional $5,000,000,000
a year in global assistance for proven child survival interventions
could save the lives of 6,000,000 young children each year;
Whereas in sub-Saharan Africa, UNICEF and other organizations estimate that
scaling up a minimum package of existing interventions delivered through
effective, community-based health services could cut the region's child
mortality rate by 30 percent, and the maternal mortality rate by 15
percent, at an estimated annual cost of $1,000 per life saved;
Whereas the United States supports child survival programs to meet the needs of
children in poor countries through its contributions to international
organizations and support for bilateral and multilateral programs;
Whereas according to the United Nations World Food Program, more than
300,000,000 children suffer from chronic hunger, and an estimated
121,000,000 of these children, two-thirds of whom are girls, do not
attend school;
Whereas providing nutritious meals in schools has proven to be one of the most
effective strategies to increase school attendance and enrollment,
particularly among girls, decrease the incidence of hunger and
malnutrition in school-age children, and help create literate, self-
sustaining, and healthy societies;
Whereas the United States supports programs to address chronic hunger and
malnutrition and promote universal education among adolescent and
school-age children;
Whereas the World Food Programme and the Food and Agricultural Organization of
the United Nations estimate that an additional $5,000,000,000 annually
in global assistance for school feeding and other food supports could
eliminate hunger and malnutrition among the world's school-age children;
and
Whereas Americans consistently rank child survival and ending hunger in poor
countries as a top priority of United States foreign assistance: Now,
therefore, be it
Resolved,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This resolution may be cited as the ``Global Security Priorities
Resolution''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF THE HOUSE.
It is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
(1) the President should continue both negotiations with
other countries and unilateral initiatives to achieve further
reductions in nuclear arms to minimum levels;
(2) the President should agree to the verifiable reduction
of deployed nuclear weapons of both the United States and the
Russian Federation to equal levels of 1,000, and a total
nuclear inventory of not more than 3,000, by the year 2015;
(3) the Cooperative Threat Reduction (Nunn-Lugar) Program
should be enhanced and extended to third countries who request
it as a truly cooperative, equally funded program between the
United States and the Russian Federation to assist in the
reduction and elimination of nuclear weapons throughout the
world and to establish an environment of assurance that nuclear
explosive material will not and cannot be diverted into the
hands of terrorists; and
(4) the funds saved through nuclear arms reductions should
be used for cooperative threat reduction and to alleviate those
problems in the world affecting children and families that can
contribute to the support for international terrorism,
including--
(A) as a first priority, allocating funds annually
to extend the Nunn-Lugar Program at a rate of at least
an additional $500,000,000 per year, and increased as
warranted, to dismantle remaining weapons, establish
verifiable safeguards, and improve accounting and
physical security;
(B) increasing United States contributions to such
programs as the Global Partnership Against the Spread
of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction and the
Global Threat Reduction Initiative by an additional
$2,500,000,000 annually over a period of 5 years, if
and when it can be demonstrated that these programs can
usefully absorb these funds;
(C) in addition to funds already available for such
purposes, providing an additional $5,000,000,000 over a
period of 5 years to enhance child survival in the
world's most needy countries, by scaling up
implementation of integrated packages of high-impact
and low-cost health and nutrition interventions at the
community level; and
(D) in addition to funds already available for such
purposes, providing an additional $1,500,000,000
annually over a period of 5 years for programs under
title II of Public Law 480 (Food for Peace) and the
George McGovern-Robert Dole International Food for
Education and Child Nutrition Program, specifically for
programs targeted at reducing the incidence of child
hunger and increasing child nutrition and educational
opportunities.
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