Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2025

This bill, titled the "Restricting First Use of Nuclear Weapons Act of 2025," aims to significantly limit the President's unilateral authority to initiate a nuclear attack. It establishes a policy that no first-use nuclear strike should be conducted without a prior declaration of war by Congress, asserting that such a monumental decision, which constitutes a major act of war, falls under Congress's constitutional power to declare war. The legislation explicitly prohibits the obligation or expenditure of federal funds for any first-use nuclear strike unless it is conducted pursuant to a war declared by Congress that expressly authorizes such an action. A "first-use nuclear strike" is defined as an attack using nuclear weapons against an enemy that is not in response to a confirmed nuclear strike against the United States, its territories, or its allies, as verified by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.