On April 14, Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and Ted Lieu (D-CA) introduced the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act, which would prohibit the President from “launching a nuclear strike without prior authorization from Congress.” In their joint statement, the Senators write: “The legislation would also institute safeguards to prevent the president from introducing nuclear weapons in a conflict and reaffirm Congress’ singular constitutional authority to declare war.” They couch the resolution in the context of supposed nuclear saber-rattling by Russia.
“No President has the right or the constitutional authority to unilaterally declare war, let alone launch a nuclear first strike,” Senator Markey said in remarks quoted in the statement. Senator Lieu was similarly quoted as saying that “no one person should have the ability to launch a war that would end life as we know it.” (https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/sen-markey-and-rep-lieu-announce-legislation-to-limit-us-presidents-power-to-unilaterally-start-nuclear-war)
