Tell Congress to Hold the LYNE: Stop Trump’s “More Usable” Warheads

Action alert from Tri-Valley CAREs (Communities Against a Radioactive Environment):

Tell Congress to Hold the LYNE

Stop Trump’s “More Usable” Warheads

The Trump Administration is pushing ahead with the development of a new, dangerous and more usable nuclear warhead. With your help, we can stop it!

As described in the President’s Nuclear Posture Review and fiscal 2019 budget, the new nuke will be a submarine-launched “low yield” variant to sit atop Trident D5 missiles. According to Trump it will make a U.S. strike more “credible.” In actuality, it lowers the threshold for nuclear use and makes nuclear war more likely.

Representatives Adam Smith (D-WA), Ted Lieu (D-CA), John Garamendi (D-CA), and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), along with Senator Ed Markey (D-MA), have responded by introducing a bicameral bill, the Hold the LYNE – Low Yield Nuclear Explosive – Act. This crucial piece of legislation, if passed, would prohibit any funds from being used for the research, development, production or deployment of this new warhead.

Here is where you come in. October was Hold the LYNE month (but your action is still needed in November!) to increase the number of co-sponsors on the bill in the House of Representatives. Your immediate phone calls, emails and letters are needed to accomplish this. Further, your member of Congress will be holding local “town halls” and other meetings this month - you can attend and publicly request his/her co-sponsorship. Or, ask any congressional candidate of your choice to commit to co-sponsoring the bill if elected.

The bill’s formal title is H.R. 6840, the Hold the LYNE Act. Here are three ways you can support this crucial legislation and prevent nuclear war before it starts:

1. Make a phone call to your member of Congress. If you already have a relationship with a particular staff person, call that person. Or, you can use the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. Here is a sample script:

“Hello. My name is xxx, and I am a constituent from (be sure to say your city). I’m calling to urge Rep. xxx to co-sponsor H.R. 6840, the Hold the LYNE Act to prohibit funding for a dangerous, low yield, submarine-launched warhead that will reduce the threshold for nuclear use and make nuclear war more likely. Rep. Adam Smith and Rep. Ted Lieu recently sent out a “Dear Colleague” letter inviting (your Rep.) to co-sponsor H.R. 6840. Additionally, I would like to be kept informed about whether Rep. xxx becomes a co-sponsor of the Hold the LYNE Act. It is very important to me. Thank you.”

(Note: You can see a copy of the Dear Colleague letter that was sent to every congressional office at the end of this action alert.)

2. Send an email or letter to your member of Congress. You can email a staff person you know. Or, go to www.house.gov or directly to your Representative’s website. Each office has instructions for writing a letter. Postal mail takes longer, so email if you can. You may use the same script as above, or write something like this:

“Dear Rep. xxx: I write as a constituent to ask you to co-sponsor H.R. 6840, the Hold the LYNE Act. This is a crucial piece of legislation that will prohibit the research, development, production or deployment of a new, low-yield, submarine-launched nuclear warhead that will sit atop Trident D5 missiles. This warhead would lower the threshold for nuclear use and make an all-out nuclear exchange more likely. As the only country to have used these horrific weapons in war, the United States should be leading the world toward their elimination, not developing new variants that make future nuclear use more likely. Recently, your office received a Dear Colleague letter from Representatives Adam Smith and Ted Lieu inviting co-sponsorship. Please add your name to H.R. 6840, the Hold the LYNE Act, today. And, keep me informed of your decision. Sincerely, (Your name and postal address as well as email).”

3. Attend a public “town hall” or other event with your member of Congress (or a candidate). First, get called on. Then, brevity will be key. Be prepared with a short clear message. State your name and that you are a constituent from (say your city). Say you would like to ask him/her to co-sponsor the Hold the LYNE Act to prohibit a new low-yield submarine-launched nuclear warhead. Say this issue is important to you. Come prepared to hand your Representative and/or the staff person in attendance a copy of the bill and a copy of the Dear Colleague letter inviting co-sponsors. Be sure to give your contact information to the staff person and say you would like to be kept informed.

4. Bonus action. If you have a bit more time, consider using the information in this alert and the click-ins below to write a Letter to the Editor of your favorite newspaper. Or, write an article for your neighborhood bulletin. Or, take another action…

CLICK HERE for a copy of H.R. 6840, the Hold the LYNE Act.

CLICK HERE for a copy of the Dear Colleague letter inviting members of Congress to co-sponsor the bill.

CLICK HERE for a list of co-sponsors as of 10-5-18 (you can get updates at congress.gov). If your member of Congress is already on the bill, call to say “thank you.”