Thirty national arms control, religious, and environmental organizations in the US joined together yesterday to urge a block on funding for a new generation of nuclear weapons.
Senator Byron Dorgan and Representative Pete Visclosky, chairs of the committees that control nuclear weapons funding, received a letter from the groups urging that all funding be removed for the Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) from the upcoming omnibus appropriations bill.
The signing organizations highlighted the dangerous international non-proliferation consequences of developing new nuclear weapons, particularly the ability of the United States to curb other countries’ nuclear weapons programs.
“We believe it is important to consider the adverse international non-proliferation consequences of proceeding with RRW” they wrote
“If the United States does not appear to be serious about non-proliferation and disarmament, its ability to limit other nations’ development of nuclear weapons will erode,” the national organizations said in their letter that was released by the Friends Committee on National Legislation, the Quaker lobby which coordinated the effort.
“The groups that came together around this issue are a broad cross-section of secular and faith-based organizations who have been working for months to stop this new warhead,” said Devin Helfrich, a Legislative Assistant for the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
A full copy of the letter and signatories can be found here: http://www.fcnl.org/issues/item.php?item_id=3038&issue_id=2