HALT Act Pushes Global Nuclear Freeze, Bans US Test Funding Starting in 2026

The Hastening Arms Limitations Talks Act of 2025, or the HALT Act, is setting the stage for a major shift in U.S. nuclear policy. This bill essentially directs the United States to lead a new global effort to freeze the nuclear arms race. Its main purpose is to push the U.S. back to the negotiating table with every nuclear-armed country to secure verifiable limits on testing, production, and deployment of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems.

The Global Freeze: What’s on the Table

This isn’t just a feel-good resolution; it lays out specific, actionable policy goals. The HALT Act mandates that the U.S. pursue multilateral agreements built around several key ideas. First, it calls for a verifiable freeze on the testing, production, and further deployment of all nuclear weapons, including their delivery vehicles. This is the big one—it aims to stop the qualitative arms race currently underway where countries are constantly developing new, more destabilizing weapons, like the Russian Federation’s new systems or China’s diversifying arsenal (SEC. 2).

Second, the bill pushes for numerical ceilings on deployed systems, including shorter-range, intermediate-range, and strategic weapons, based on levels recorded in August 2019. It also aims to get all nuclear-armed countries—including the P5 (U.S., Russia, China, France, U.K.)—to agree to a no-first-use policy or at least provide transparency on when they might use nuclear weapons. For people worried about accidental war, the bill also targets dangerous postures, specifically calling for an agreement to refrain from configuring forces for “launch on warning” or “launch under warning,” which are hair-trigger systems that rely on sensor data that could be wrong (SEC. 3).

Putting the Brakes on Testing

Perhaps the most concrete and immediate impact of the HALT Act is found in Section 4. Starting in fiscal year 2026, no federal funds can be used for explosive nuclear weapons tests that produce any yield. This is a hard stop on resuming the kind of testing the U.S. halted decades ago. For this prohibition to be lifted, two things must happen: the President must submit a report detailing the condition of the U.S. stockpile, and Congress must pass a joint resolution explicitly approving the specific test. This provision effectively puts a major check on the executive branch, ensuring that any decision to resume explosive testing must get a green light from Congress first. This is a big deal for those who want to ensure the U.S. maintains its zero-yield standard, relying instead on the Department of Energy’s science-based Stockpile Stewardship and Management Plan.

The Treaty Push and the Fine Print

The bill also directs the President to seek Senate ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). The CTBT, which the U.S. signed but never ratified, bans all nuclear explosions. Ratification would activate the treaty’s on-site inspection provisions and lend critical momentum to global non-proliferation efforts. Furthermore, the U.S. is directed to renew efforts to negotiate a verifiable Fissile Material Treaty, which would prevent any country from producing the highly enriched uranium and plutonium needed for nuclear weapons (SEC. 3).

While the policy goals are clear, achieving them is the challenge. The bill aims to include all nuclear-armed countries in these numerical ceilings, which is highly ambitious given the current geopolitical climate and the reluctance of some nations to participate in arms control. The HALT Act is a massive policy signal, shifting the U.S. approach from managing the nuclear status quo to aggressively pursuing verifiable disarmament and risk reduction. For the average person, this bill is about lowering the existential risk of nuclear conflict by making sure the U.S. leads the world in stepping away from the nuclear edge.