The U.S. House of Representatives voted down an amendment that would have prohibited the transfer of controversial cluster munitions to Ukraine.
On Thursday night, the House
voted 147-276 on an amendment to the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to stop the flow of U.S. cluster munitions to Ukrainian forces. The amendment, introduced by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), came days after President Joe Biden’s administration announced its approval for transfers of cluster munitions known as dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICMs) for Ukraine.
98 Republicans and 49 Democrats supported Ms. Greene’s NDAA amendment. 121 Republicans and 155 Democrats opposed it.
After the Biden administration approved the DPICM transfers to Ukraine on July 7, several Democrats in the House Progressive Congress
introduced an amendment that would have prohibited U.S. transfers of cluster munitions to any country. Ms. Greene’s amendment was more narrowly geared toward stopping cluster munitions transfers to Ukraine.
Controversial Weapons
Cluster munitions are controversial because they release a spray of smaller bomblets, known as submunitions, that don’t always explode as intended when they’re released. These unexploded submunitions can pose a risk of detonating years later, long after their intended use, potentially maiming or killing innocent civilians who stumble upon them later on. Human rights organizations like
Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch consider cluster munitions to be indiscriminate killers, and more than 100 nations
have signed onto the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM), which prohibits their use.
The United States and Ukraine are not signatories to this international agreement opposing cluster munitions. The leaders of several U.S.-allied nations that are signatories to the CCM have
criticized the Biden administration’s decisions.
In a
speech urging the passage of her amendment on Thursday, Ms. Greene characterized cluster munitions as “brutal, inhumane weapons that cause lasting harm to civilians.”
“What’s next, chemical or biological weapons? Nuclear weapons?” she asked.
Ms. Greene also argued that sending these weapons to Ukraine would continue to escalate the conflict with Russia rather than pushing the warring sides toward peace talks.
While announcing the decision to start transferring cluster munitions to Ukraine on July 7, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan
told reporters that the military had selected DPICMs with a “dud rate” of no more than 2.5 percent, meaning there’d be a relatively low chance of submunitions failing to explode when they’re initially released. Mr. Sullivan said Russian forces have already been using cluster munitions against Ukraine and that their cluster munitions, by comparison, can have a dud rate of between 30 and 40 percent.
“We recognize that cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance,” Mr. Sullivan said. “This is why we’ve deferred—deferred the decision for as long as we could. But there is also a massive risk of civilian harm if Russian troops and tanks roll over Ukrainian positions and take more Ukrainian territory and subjugate more Ukrainian civilians because Ukraine does not have enough artillery. That is intolerable to us.”
Mr. Sullivan also offered assurances that Ukrainian forces would only be employing these cluster munitions within their own borders, where they are motivated to minimize risks to their own civilian populations. He said Ukraine is committed to post-conflict de-mining efforts.
Other Ukraine Amendments Fail
In addition to voting down the cluster munitions amendment, the majority of House lawmakers struck down other amendments geared toward constraining U.S. support for Ukraine.Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) brought an
amendment to prohibit all security assistance for Ukraine. That effort failed by a vote of 70-358 and only gained support from Mr. Gaetz’s fellow Republicans.
Ms. Greene introduced another amendment that would have blocked $300 million in new Ukraine-related spending. She argued that the United States had not expended all of the funding it has already allocated for Ukraine and should not allocate more funding at this time. This amendment also failed by a vote of 89-341 and only garnered the support of Ms. Greene’s fellow Republicans.
