Bill > S1148

This bill, the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2021, aims to restrict the President's sole authority to authorize the use of nuclear weapons in a first-use nuclear strike. It establishes that no federal funds can be used to conduct a first-use nuclear strike unless it is done pursuant to a war declared by Congress that expressly authorizes such a strike. The bill also defines a "first-use nuclear strike" as an attack using nuclear weapons against an enemy without the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff first confirming to the President that there has been a nuclear strike against the United States, its territories, or its allies. The bill's purpose is to provide meaningful checks and balances to the President's authority over the use of nuclear weapons, which the Constitution gives Congress the sole power to declare war over.