Democrats fight to block Trump’s 'reckless and unnecessary' call to restart nuclear testing

Senate Democrats want to curb President Donald Trump’s ability to unilaterally resume nuclear testing, as the president suggested the U.S. would do on an "equal basis" with Russia and China moving forward.

While Trump did not elaborate and clarify what reinstating nuclear testing would involve, Senate Democrats are seeking to put some limitations in place for the executive branch amid concerns that launching the first nuclear test in more than 30 years would prompt near-peer adversaries like China to follow.

As a result, Sens. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M., and Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., introduced the No Nuclear Testing Without Approval Act Friday. The measure prohibits the U.S. from conducting a nuclear test unless a foreign state first conducts a nuclear test, and would require Congress to sign off on such nuclear tests.

"Restarting nuclear testing would be reckless and unnecessary," Kelly said in a Friday statement. "We’ve already conducted more than a thousand tests and know our warheads work. This would just risk triggering a dangerous chain reaction, potentially encouraging countries like China to do the same and advance their own technology."

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Trump’s call to reinstate nuclear testing struck a chord with those in Nevada, where the bulk of U.S. nuclear testing from 1951 to 1992 was conducted at the Nevada Test Site. The area is now known as the Nevada National Security Site, which aims to safeguard the U.S.’ nuclear weapons stockpile. 

But the site is the only location currently in the U.S. where a nuclear test could be administered, according to the lawmakers.

"Nevadans were blindsided when President Trump said he could revive the outdated, misguided practice of detonating nuclear weapons just 60 miles from my hometown of Las Vegas," Cortez Masto said in a Friday statement. "No administration should have the authority to set off nuclear bombs on American soil without any oversight or outreach to the states that would bear the burden of these dangerous tests."

Likewise, Rosen emphasized the gravity of resuming nuclear testing, and said that "a decision of this magnitude should not be made lightly or on a whim by an erratic President."

Reps. Steven Horsford and Susie Lee, both Democrats from Nevada, are expected to introduce companion legislation in the House.

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Trump announced in October just ahead of a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping that the U.S. would revive nuclear weapons testing — even though the U.S. has not done so since 1992.

"They seem to all be nuclear testing," Trump later told reporters on Air Force One. "We don’t do testing — we halted it years ago. But with others doing testing, it’s appropriate that we do also."

It wasn’t immediately clear what Trump meant in terms of reviving nuclear testing, since no country has launched a known nuclear test since North Korea in 2017. China and Russia last conducted known tests in the 1990s, when Russia was still the Soviet Union.

The White House told Fox News Digital Monday that Trump had made his stance clear and that testing would occur on a reciprocal basis. 

"Democrats should spend less time trying to usurp the president’s executive authority and more time working with the administration to advance peace through strength," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said. 

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Even so, experts said that Trump may have been referring to beefing up testing of nuclear-powered weapons, or moving ahead with secretive, low-yield nuclear weapons testing.

Furthermore, Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that testing will involve "the other parts of a nuclear weapon" and that nuclear explosions wouldn't occur. 

"I think the tests we’re talking about right now are systems tests," Wright said in an interview with Fox News November 3. "These are not nuclear explosions. These are what we call noncritical explosions."

Trump’s statement came days after Russia announced it had successfully tested its new, nuclear-powered Burevestnik cruise missile, which NATO has dubbed "Skyfall."

As a result, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said it’s critical the president responds to those like Russian President Vladimir Putin, who have nuclear weapons.

"When you have a madman that has nuclear weapons like Putin does and he starts rattling his saber, it's important for the president to respond," Risch told reporters on Oct. 30. "And he responded in a way that is reasonable."

Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.