House Rejects Amendment to Stop Sending Cluster Bombs to Ukraine

The US Capitol building seen from the base of the Washington Monument as the sun rises in Washington on May 28, 2023. Samuel Corum/AFP via Getty Images

The House of Representatives voted on Sept. 27 against an amendment to stop the United States from sending cluster munitions to Ukrainian forces.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who has opposed other measures of U.S. aid going to Ukraine, introduced an amendment to a House Defense Appropriations Bill on Sept. 27, seeking to end the flow of cluster munitions to Ukraine in future aid packages. The amendment failed by a vote of 160–269.

Eighty-five House Republicans and 75 House Democrats supported the effort to block cluster bombs for Ukraine, while 132 Republicans and 137 Democrats opposed it.

Cluster munitions are bombs and artillery shells that are designed to break apart in mid-air, releasing a cluster of smaller submunitions over a wider area. The weapons are controversial because not all of these submunitions explode when they’re initially launched and can potentially linger for years after a war only to detonate when encountered by innocent bystanders years later.

Currently, 112 nations are party to the U.N. Convention on Cluster Munitions (pdf), which prohibits the use, transfer, production, and stockpiling of these weapons. The United States is among a group of 16 countries that produce cluster munitions and refuse to join the U.N. cluster munitions treaty.

President Joe Biden’s administration first approved transfers of U.S. cluster munitions, known as dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICMs), to Ukraine in July. The Biden administration stated the transfers of cluster munitions came following assurances that these weapons would be used only within Ukraine’s borders and that the Ukrainian government would commit to post-conflict de-mining efforts to find and remove unexploded submunitions.

Further defending the cluster munitions transfers, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Russian forces have already been using cluster munitions in Ukraine. Mr. Sullivan also said the types of cluster munitions Russian forces use contain submunitions that fail to explode when intended between 30 and 40 percent of the time. By comparison, Mr. Sullivan said the DPICMs that the United States would send to Ukraine have a “dud rate” of about 2.5 percent.

2nd Attempt to Stop Cluster Bomb Transfers Fails

Mr. Gaetz’s Sept. 27 amendment to the House Defense Appropriations Bill marks the second time he has tried and failed to stop the flow of U.S. cluster munitions abroad.

The Florida Republican backed a July effort, led by Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), to stop U.S. cluster munitions transfers to Ukraine just days after the Biden administration approved the transfers. Ms. Jacobs sought an amendment in the House version of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act that would have excluded cluster munitions transfers to Ukraine, but the amendment effort failed by a vote of 147–267.

Sept. 27’s House proceedings on the Defense Appropriations Bill presented a second opportunity for Mr. Gaetz to add the cluster munitions debate to the broader government spending debate.

“These cluster bombs are indiscriminate, they’ve killed tens of thousands of people, and ... when this is all done, we'll be right back here on the floor, appropriating money to de-mine the cluster munitions that we’re now sending, which seems ludicrous to me,” Mr. Gaetz said.

Speaking in support of the amendment on Sept. 27, Ms. Jacobs noted findings from a 2022 report (pdf) by the Cluster Munitions Monitor, which assessed that civilians were the victims in 97 percent of cases in 2021 in which previously unexploded cluster bomb submunitions finally exploded. The report also determined that children accounted for two-thirds of these casualties from delayed detonations of submunitions.

“There’s no amount of guardrails or promised precautions for cluster munitions that are enough. These weapons are unpredictable and the human cost is far too high to justify,” Ms. Jacobs said.

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), who also supported the amendment to stop cluster munitions transfers, argued that sending such weapons undermines the United States’ moral authority to work on Ukraine’s behalf.

“The legacy of cluster bombs is misery, death, and expensive cleanup after generations of use,” Ms. McCollum said. “And I’ve been in Laos and worked with other countries to clean up this legacy.”

Speaking in opposition to Mr. Gaetz’s amendment, Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.) argued that artillery weapons have been crucial for the Ukrainian military since the Russian invasion began last year. He said it remains necessary to send cluster artillery shells to Ukrainian forces to keep them supplied while the United States ramps up its production of other types of artillery shells for Ukraine.

“Cluster munitions fill a needed gap right now until U.S. production and inventory of 155 munition ammunition can catch up,” Mr. Calvert said. “The Russians have been using cluster munitions for a year and a half from day one. We should not limit the Ukraine’s ability to fight the Russians.”

He also argued that the amendment blocking transfers of U.S. cluster munitions could bar the United States from supplying those weapons to other allies and partners, such as in the event that conflict breaks out on the Korean Peninsula or over Taiwan. He said the amendment may even prevent U.S. forces stationed abroad from being supplied with such cluster munitions.

From NTD News