Some Democrats, however, offered their support to Biden. Sara Jacobs, D-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services Committee who opposes cluster munitions, has introduced a floor amendment to the fiscal 2024 defense authorization bill that would prohibit their transfer, though it’s unclear if Republican leaders will make it in order when the House considers NDAA next week. “The legacy of cluster bombs is misery, death, and expensive cleanup generations after their use.” in a position that directly contradicts 23 of our NATO allies who have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions,” she said in a statement.
cluster munitions onto the battlefield in Ukraine undermines our moral authority and places the U.S. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., ranking member of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, called the move “unnecessary and a terrible mistake.” Several Democratic lawmakers spoke out against the decision. “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.” This is why we deferred the decision for as long as we could,” Sullivan said. “We recognize the cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance. weapons - the failure rate, which would signify ongoing risk to civilians - was significantly lower than that of their Russian counterparts.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, defended the decision to provide the cluster munitions at a White House briefing Friday, noting Russia’s extensive use of them on the battlefield.
The dual-purpose improved conventional munitions, or DPICMs, were unveiled as part of a broader $300 million security assistance package that also includes Patriot air defense system munitions, AIM-7 missiles for air defense and HIMARS artillery ammunition. Their use is banned by an international treaty with more than 100 participants, although the United States and Ukraine are not among them. Ukrainian leaders and Republican lawmakers have spent months urging President Joe Biden to green-light the controversial weapons, which are explosives that release smaller submunitions over a certain area. The Biden administration announced Friday it would send cluster munitions to Ukraine despite concerns from many Democratic lawmakers about civilian harm.
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