Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRAWFORD. Mr. Chair, I thank the chairman for yielding me time.

I rise today in support of the cluster munitions prohibition amendment.

We have heard from Members speaking in favor of this amendment, and I would like to echo their concerns from a military perspective.

Cluster munitions do kill innocent civilians, but they also are incredibly deadly to U.S. military personnel as well.

The vast majority of cluster munitions lack a self-destruct capability and have failure rates of 2 to 40 percent.

With many of these war-torn nations unable to adequately address their own UXO clearance operations, often due to a lack of having their own EOD-trained personnel, this is where the United States military steps in.

Through programs like the Humanitarian Demining Research and Development Program and the Humanitarian Mine Action Program, the U.S. Department of Defense sends highly skilled EOD personnel to provide demining assistance to partner nations post-conflict.

This means that even if the United States is not directly involved in a conflict, we send America's EOD personnel into harm's way when they conduct clearance operations.

President Biden has provided Ukraine with cluster munitions for use against Russia, and anyone would be a fool to believe that when the Ukraine-Russia conflict is over, American EOD personnel will not be sent to assist in post-conflict clearance operations.

On my last visit to the EOD Memorial Wall at Eglin Air Force Base, I reread the names of 344 fallen EOD technicians. If we don't support the cluster munitions prohibition amendment, we will be adding more names to that wall.

As a founder and co-chair of the Congressional Explosive Ordnance Disposal Caucus, it is my duty to be a voice in Congress for America's EOD personnel.

Mr. Chair, I urge my colleagues to support the amendment.

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