WASHINGTON, April 15. /TASS/. US lawmakers have drafted a bill that would prohibit the US president from ordering the use of nuclear weapons without the approval of Congress, the press service of Senator Ed Markey, a Democrat from Massachusetts, announced.

The text of the bill limiting the president's powers in the nuclear domain was drafted by Markey and Congressman Ted Lieu, a Democrat from California. They propose to prohibit any president of the United States from launching a nuclear strike without prior congressional approval. "No president has the right or the constitutional authority to unilaterally declare war, let alone launch a nuclear first strike," the press office quoted Markey as saying.

"Congress alone has the constitutional duty to declare war, and decide whether a nuclear launch is necessary," Ted Lieu pointed out.

"The President has the sole authority to authorize the use of nuclear weapons, an order which military officers of the United States must carry out in accordance with their obligations under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Given its exclusive power under the Constitution to declare war, Congress must provide meaningful checks and balances to the President’s sole authority to authorize the use of a nuclear weapon," the bill said.

"The framers of the Constitution understood that the monumental decision to go to war, which can result in massive death and the destruction of civilized society, must be made by the representatives of the people and not by a single person. Nuclear weapons are uniquely powerful weapons that have the capability to instantly kill millions of people, create long-term health and environmental consequences throughout the world, directly undermine global peace, and put the United States at existential risk from retaliatory nuclear strikes," the document noted.

Markey and Lieu first introduced a similar bill in Congress in 2016, but it was not passed then.