House rejects amendment banning cluster bomb exports to Ukraine.

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 mas