(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Today, Congressman Jim Banks (R-IN) along with Congressmen Brad Sherman (D-CA), Bill Foster (D-IL), Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), Ben Ray Luján (D-NM), and Chuck Fleischmann (R-TN), introduced the Richard Lugar Nonproliferation and Arms Control Legacy Resolution in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Rep. Jim Banks
This resolution — which is being introduced in the Senate by Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Todd Young (R-IN), and Rand Paul (R-KY) — builds upon Senator Lugar’s legacy by reaffirming U.S. support for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and America’s contributions to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The resolution also calls for an extension of New START in 2021, if it advances U.S. interests, while also recognizing the benefits of including China in future arms control treaties. The bipartisan, bicameral resolution also strongly criticizes Russia for violating the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, which eliminated 2,700 medium-range missiles.
Said Rep. Banks, “Senator Lugar was one of the greatest statesmen of our time. His leadership on the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program and the New START Treaty led to an era of denuclearization and peace. We now live in an era where these historic boundaries are tested. Russia violated the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, and China is rapidly investing in its nuclear enterprise. If we are to keep the world safe from nuclear warfare, we must channel Senator Lugar and ensure our adversaries comply with the nuclear standards of a more peaceful era.”
In the Fiscal Year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, Rep. Banks requested a report from the Department of Defense to identify ways to strengthen the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) program, an interagency coordination, expeditious project approval, measuring program effectiveness, and policy gaps continue to pose challenges to effective and efficient utilization of CTR.
