Progressive Democrats Tell Congress To Rein In Trump

WASHINGTON - Oct. 26, 2017 - PRLog -- Who: Progressive Democrats of America

What: Demand Congressional action to curb Trump's nuclear war powers

Where: In Washington, D.C. and nationwide

Why: To prevent and diminish the risk of nuclear war

When: Immediately

How: Via direct action and public pressure on Congress

Washington, D.C.—Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) released a mass email today announcing that the group is "working to decrease the chance of a nuclear war" and asking its supporters to urge their Representative and Senators to cosponsor the Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2017. Sen. Ed Markey sponsored the Senate legislation, and Rep. Ted Lieu sponsored the House companion bill.

Mike Hersh, PDA Communications Director, drafted the email and action alert. He explained, "This bill prohibits the President from using the Armed Forces to conduct a first-use nuclear strike unless such strike is conducted pursuant to a congressional declaration of war expressly authorizing such strike. 'First-use nuclear strike' means a nuclear weapons attack against an enemy that is conducted without the President determining that the enemy has first launched a nuclear strike against the United States or a U.S. ally."

Hersh's statement quoted an article by Jake Johnson, staff writer for CommonDreams that reported, "As President Donald Trump continues to ratchet up tensions between the United States and North Korea through saber-rattling on Twitter and in television interviews, the U.S. has quietly begun preparing to put nuclear-armed B-52 bombers on '24-hour ready alert,' a status not seen since the end of the Cold War."

The PDA statement stressed that "Commentators and national security analysts quickly denounced the reported steps as a severe and extremely dangerous consequence of White House 'hysterics,'" and quoted Trump as saying, "You would be shocked to see how totally prepared we are if we need to be."

Hersh wrote, "We can't risk thermonuclear war. Call on Congress to act now to avoid increasing the risk of accidents and heightened tensions," and urged PDA supporters to contact their elected officials "to help prevent nuclear war" by using an action alert: https://actionnetwork.org/letters/no-nuclear-war/

Progressive Democrats of America is a grassroots political action committee. The organization was founded in 2004 to transform the Democratic Party and U.S. politics by working inside the Democratic Party and outside with peace, justice, civil rights, environmental, and other reform movements. PDA's Healthcare Not Warfare campaign brings together the need for a comprehensive universal healthcare system with our advocacy for scaled-down military spending and reliance on non-military approaches to foreign policy, rather than regime change and military action.

The PDA National Advisory Board includes: Representatives John Conyers, Jr., Barbara Lee, Keith Ellison, Raul Grijalva, and James McGovern; as well as progressive leaders including Academy Award winning documentarian Michael Moore, Actress / Activist Mimi Kennedy, Rev. Dr. Rodney Sadler, Author Jim Hightower, and Radio Hosts / Authors Lila Garrett and Thom Hartmann. Esteemed activists Michael Lighty, Medea Benjamin, Steve Cobble, Kristin Cabral, Dr. Paul Song, M.D., and Professor Marjorie Cohn also serve on the PDA Advisory Board.

For more information please see http://www.pdamerica.org and contact:

Communications Director Mike Hersh mike@pdamerica.org / 301-602-9388

Executive Director Donna Smith donna@pdamerica.org / 720-256-8373

Deputy Director Michael Fox mikefox@pdamerica.org / 727-320-4502