1. This is our campaign in the US Congress:
Our goal is build political support for the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons and for the total elimination of nuclear weapons. Since most Members of Congress are still wedded to the idea that nuclear weapons are essential to our “defense,” that means inching our way into the political conversation and changing the narrative about nuclear weapons – from the naive one that assumes we will have nuclear weapons with us forever (without them ever being used) to the very realistic one that assumes it is only a matter of how and when we will finally be rid of these weapons forever. We are doing this in two ways:
- Convincing more progressive Members of Congress to sign the ICAN Legislative Pledge and using this to influence their colleagues.
- Urging Members of Congress (in the House only) to co-sponsor the Norton Bill, which calls for everything we are asking for, even though it is primarily a symbolic gesture for staking out their position, rather than a piece of legislation that will ever get passed into law.
2. Please write to your Members of Congress urging them to support the Norton bill and/or sign the ICAN Pledge.
All Members of Congress need to know that the people of this country care about the threat posed by nuclear weapons and that we want them to eliminate this threat. They want to hear, above all, from their own constituents. You are free to write to any legislator you want, but they are likely to read it only if you live in their District, so we need you to write to your own Members of Congress and to encourage your friends and colleagues in other parts of the country to write to their own legislators.
3. Who are your Members of Congress?
If you don’t know, use this link to find out who your US Representative and US Senators are:
https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/
or look up your reps on this map:
https://www.nuclearban.us/nationalmap
4. Are any of them on any of these PRIORITY lists below?
Already signed the ICAN Pledge AND co-sponsored the Norton Bill:
Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC)
Barbara Lee (CA-13)
Carolyn Maloney (NY-12)
Pramila Jayapal (WA-7)
Mark Pocan (WI-2)
Rashida Tlaib (MI-13)
Ilhan Omar (MN-5)
Signed the ICAN Pledge but still needs to co-sponsor the Norton bill:
Co-sponsored the Norton bill but still needs to sign the ICAN Pledge:
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14)
On our top priority list for being most likely to sign:
4a. YES (my US rep and/or senator is on one of the above priority lists) –
Click on their name, and follow instructions at the top of the page that opens.
Edit and personalize the letter however you wish.
You can edit the subject line however you want it.
BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME, ADDRESS, AND PHONE NUMBER.
Send.
(BCC will go to info@NuclearBan.US so we have a record of letters sent to key legislators.)
4b. NO (neither my US rep nor either senator is on one of the above priority lists) –
Write to your Rep and/or Senator using the contact form on their website that you can find by clicking on the name you found from this link: https://openstates.org/find_your_legislator/ (or try sending them an email using this basic formula: Firstname.Lastname@mail.house.gov for US Reps OR Firstname.Lastname@Lastname.Senate.gov for US Senators.
Copy and paste this Generic Letter into the body of your email.
Edit and personalize the letter however you wish.
ADD A SUBJECT LINE. Suggestion: “Please support the Norton Bill H.R.2850”
BE SURE TO INCLUDE YOUR NAME, ADDRESS, AND PHONE NUMBER.
Send.
5. Great! You’ve just helped move the world one small step closer to eliminating nuclear weapons!
Thank you.
6. If you have already contacted your US Rep and both your US Senators, or you prefer to write to other people you know, think about who else you know in another Congressional District or another state who might be willing to write their own letters. Extra points if they happen to live in the district of someone on one of the above PRIORITY lists. Please direct them to the nuclearban.us/for-the-usa page and offer to help them write letters if needed.
