# The HALT Act of 2023: What It Actually Does

The HALT Act is about stopping the global nuclear arms race and pushing the U.S. government to pursue international agreements that would freeze and reduce nuclear weapons worldwide. Essentially, it's telling the U.S. to take the lead in negotiating treaties with other nuclear-armed countries—like Russia, China, France, and the UK—to stop testing, building, and deploying new nuclear weapons. The bill reflects concerns that while the Cold War ended decades ago, countries are now spending enormous amounts of money modernizing and expanding their nuclear arsenals, creating new tensions and risks.

The bill lays out specific goals for what these international agreements should include. It wants the U.S. to negotiate deals that would freeze nuclear weapons at current levels, prevent countries from testing new designs, establish "no first use" policies (meaning countries wouldn't use nuclear weapons unless attacked with them first), and create better inspection systems to verify that countries are following the rules. It also pushes the U.S. to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which would prohibit any country from testing nuclear weapons anywhere in the world. The bill emphasizes that modern technology now makes it possible to maintain a strong nuclear deterrent without actually testing weapons—something that wasn't possible during the Cold War.

On the practical side, the bill includes a funding restriction: it prohibits the U.S. government from spending money to conduct any nuclear weapons test that produces an explosion unless Congress specifically approves it first and the President provides detailed justification. This is a significant constraint because it essentially locks in the current U.S. policy of not testing nuclear weapons and makes it much harder to resume testing in the future. The bill doesn't eliminate America's nuclear arsenal or unilaterally disarm—it just prevents new testing and pushes for international negotiations to reduce the overall number of weapons and lower the risk of nuclear war.

HALT Act of 2023

McGovern, James P.

Hastening Arms Limitations Talks Act of 2023 or the HALT Act of 2023This bill prohibits making preparations for an explosive nuclear weapons test unless (1) the President details any change to the condition of the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile from the previous year, and (2) Congress enacts a joint resolution approving the test.Further, the bill declares it to be U.S. policy that the United States should lead international negotiations on specific arms-reduction measures.