Sponsors (19)
The resolution seeks to preserve arms-control transparency and reassure allies to reduce nuclear risks, but it entails federal costs and diplomatic/legal risks that could complicate negotiations or leave gaps if no new binding limits are secured.
All Americans: Maintaining or renewing limits like New START reduces the risk of a nuclear arms race and lowers the chance of strategic miscalculation.
U.S. allies and partners (and state-level governments): Reaffirming bipartisan U.S. commitment to arms control supports allied security commitments and deterrence stability in Europe and Asia.
Taxpayers: Preserving New START’s verification and onsite inspections maintains transparency and intelligence that can reduce costly military buildups and improve confidence between parties.
All Americans (taxpayers, middle-class families): Reaffirming commitments without securing new, binding limits could leave the U.S. exposed if adversaries escalate, sustaining uncertainty about deterrence.
Negotiators and the U.S. government: Declaring Russia's suspension of New START legally invalid could complicate negotiations, limit near-term enforcement options, and increase diplomatic friction.
Taxpayers: Renewing or negotiating arms-control frameworks requires federal resources for diplomacy, verification, and monitoring, imposing fiscal costs.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Makes declaratory findings emphasizing U.S. support for nuclear risk reduction, highlights New START limits and verification benefits, notes Russian actions, and warns that loss of limits after Feb 5, 2026 would harm strategic stability.
Introduced February 5, 2025 by Edward John Markey · Last progress February 5, 2025
Declares U.S. findings on nuclear risk reduction and strategic stability, reaffirming that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. It recounts Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and related escalatory nuclear rhetoric and steps, notes the limits and verification benefits of the New START treaty, records that the U.S. is ready to negotiate a post-2026 arms control framework with Russia and engage China, and warns that allowing New START to lapse after Feb. 5, 2026 would increase nuclear risks and weaken strategic stability.