ORLANDO, Fla. – Outgoing U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) is not leaving without the last word.
Grayson filed a Nuclear Sanity Act bill on Tuesday in response to President-elect Donald Trump’s comments about nuclear weapons.
House Bill 6535 would require approval by the secretaries of defense and sate before the U.S. launches a nuclear weapon, unless the U.S. is under attack, according to a press release Grayson sent out Thursday.
Trump recently suggested the U.S. expand its nuclear capabilities in a tweet.
“The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes,” Trump tweeted on Dec. 22.
Trump later claimed that the media misquoted his tweet.
“We need to take the nuclear football out of Trump’s hands, before he fumbles it,” Grayson said in the release.
Under current law, the U.S. president can launch nuclear weapons without consulting the Department of Defense.
There is no big red button if the president were to use a weapon of mass destruction, reported CNN. The president has a card, nicknamed the “biscuit” with the nuclear launch codes on it. Instead of a button, a military aide carries a briefcase, called the “football” with information necessary to launch a strike.
The aide with the “football” is thoroughly vetted and trained for this duty. He or she remains near the president at all times.
The current nuclear policies allow for a loophole, according to Grayson, that would allow the president-elect “to nuke Ireland” if “Trump wakes up angry at Rosie O’Donnell one morning.”
Grayson said the bill is to put in place one more step between “Armageddon” and “Trump’s impulses.”
Under the Nuclear Sanity Act unless the president cannot contact the secretaries of defense and sate for at least 24 hours “the president shall obtain the (written) approval of the secretary of defense and the secretary of state prior to the use of nuclear weapons by the United States,” according to the bill overview.
Trump will be sworn in as president of the United States on Jan. 20, at which time the nuclear "football" will began accompanying him wherever he goes.
Grayson did not run for re-election to the U.S. House in 2016. Instead, he ran for the Florida Senate seat, currently held by Marco Rubio (R). Patrick Murphy overwhelmingly defeated Grayson in the primary with 58 percent of the Florida vote, but on Election Day Rubio retained his seat in the Senate.
Democrat Darren Soto will take over Grayson’s House seat in 2017.