PHOTO: Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons
Washington, DC – U.S. Representative Raúl Grijalva (D-AZ 3rd District) has added his
name to the list of co-sponsors to the Norton Bill, H.R.2850. He had co-sponsored previous version of the Norton Bill,
but not the current one which calls on the US to sign and ratify the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear
Weapons, and to use the saved money to fight the climate crisis and other vital social issues.
Grijalva is the Chair of the House Natural Resources Committee. He also serves on the
Committee on Education and the Workforce and is the Chairman Emeritus of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus, as well as a long-standing member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.
Since he took office in 2003, Grijalva has been a strong and consistent proponent of
abortion rights, fair education, affordable healthcare, immigrant and indigenous American rights,
gun regulation, environmental protection, and the regulation of large oil companies.
In a letter sent to President Biden in September, 2021, Rep. Grijalva, together with 28
other Members of Congress, reminded the President that: “You rightly highlighted our most
pressing security needs when you first came to office, prioritizing the need to end the COVID-19
pandemic, to address climate change, to advance racial justice, and to restore the economy.
Spending an estimated $634 billion on the U.S nuclear arsenal will only make addressing these
critical priorities more difficult.”
The Norton bill, now co-sponsored by Rep. Grijalva and 11 other members of Congress,
calls for a radical shift in federal spending priorities – from spending billions on nuclear weapons
to instead using the funds to address the exigent social needs of Americans and people across the
world. This isn’t the first time that Grijalva has fought against nuclear weapons, having
cosponsored the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017.
The ongoing war in Ukraine is a harsh reminder that nuclear weapons protect no one and
serve only to threaten global annihilation. This unbounded jeopardy will persist until these
weapons are abolished. Rep. Grijalva and his colleagues want to see the US join the rest of the
world in making that happen.
