Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2025

Floor Speech

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Ms. TITUS. Mr. Chairman, I rise in support of this vital amendment to prohibit funds in the bill from being used to acquire, use, sell, or transfer cluster munitions, in an effort to avert more widespread harm to civilians in areas contaminated with unexploded ordnance.

Cluster bombs are not winning weapons but indiscriminate munitions that blanket large areas, contaminating land and inflicting disproportionate harm on civilians. Cluster munitions are shells that contain dozens of smaller bomblets that disperse into the air and scatter over areas the size of several football fields. Their lack of precision-targeting capabilities increases the risk of their falling into civilian areas and makes it very difficult to decontaminate those bombed areas.

The extreme threat to civilians, furthermore, that these weapons pose far outweighs any potential military benefit.

The ``2023 Cluster Munition Monitor'' report found there were at least 1,172 new cluster munition casualties globally in 2022. That is the highest annual number of casualties since at least 2010. In 2022, civilians accounted for approximately 95 percent of all cluster munitions casualties, and of that 95 percent, children accounted for over 70 percent of the civilian casualties.

Thousands of communities across Southeast Asia, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe face lingering dangers from landmines and explosive remnants of war, dating back to World War II, the Vietnam war, and the Indochina wars, with many of the Pacific Island nations still contaminated with unexploded ordnance following World War II battles between Japan and Allied forces. Laos, the most heavily bombed country per capita in history, has suffered an estimated 50,000 civilian casualties from explosive remnants of war since 1964. Cambodia and Vietnam have seen over 64,000 and 105,000 casualties, respectively, since 1975.

The 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions has 112 party states and 12 signatories, including the majority of our NATO allies. The transfer of these weapons by the U.S. is contrary to the global norm against the use, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions. There is a reason why the vast majority of the international community has banned these weapons, and it is time for the U.S. to do the same.
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Ms. TITUS. Mr. Chair, I yield 1 minute to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum), the ranking member of the subcommittee.

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Ms. TITUS. Mr. Chair, I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for pointing out the danger of these weapons, not just to the victims but also to our own troops.

As far as the dud rates go, the Department of Defense has indeed stated DPICMs have a low dud rate, 2.35 percent, as the Department has said. This figure, however, does not tell the whole story.

The DOD tests the dud rate by dropping bomblets on a concrete surface. Obviously, every little bomblet will detonate on concrete, but that is not representative of the environments where they are deployed. When cluster munitions are dropped in mud, snow, marshes, and certain soft terrain, that dud rate skyrockets upwards of 50 percent.

The DOD's announced dud rate figure cannot be taken at face value, and constructing an argument against this amendment solely based on that foundation is truly flawed.

I just point out, again, the damage that is done to humanity by these weapons, and the majority of those who are casualties are children.

Mr. Chair, I yield back the balance of my time.

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Ms. TITUS. Mr. Chair, I demand a recorded vote.

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