{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sarajacobs.house.gov/news/press-releases/reps-jacobs-keating-mcgovern-and-sen-leahy-announce-letter-to-president-biden-calling-on-the-administration-to-review-us-policy-towards-cluster-munitions-and-prohibit-their-use-by-the-us-military", "Reps. Jacobs, Keating, McGovern, and Sen. Leahy Announce Letter to President Biden Calling on the Administration to Review U.S. Policy Towards Cluster Munitions and Prohibit Their Use by the U.S. Military", "2022-12-21", "2022", "2022-12", "Democrat", "House", "CA", "Sara Jacobs", "J000305", "sarajacobs.house.gov", "sarajacobs", "https://sarajacobs.house.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "Today Representative Sara Jacobs (D-CA) joined Chairman Bill Keating (D-MA) of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Energy, the Environment, and Cyber; Chair Jim McGovern (D-MA) of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission; and Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, in sending a letter to President Biden urging him to review the Administration\u2019s cluster munitions policy. Subsequent to this requested review, the authors are urging the Biden administration to take all the necessary steps to revise the Department of Defense\u2019s (DoD) 2017 Policy on Cluster Munitions and ultimately ban the development, sale, and use of these weapons while expediting the destruction of our stockpile of cluster munitions.\n\nCo-signers of the letter include: Representatives Blumenauer, Grijalva, Khanna, Lee, Malinowski, Murphy, and Norton.\n\nRepresentative Sara Jacobs said, \u201cThe United States\u2019 cluster munition policy stands in direct conflict with our values and our reputation as human rights defenders around the world,\u201d said Congresswoman Sara Jacobs. \u201cCluster munitions keep killing long after their initial use, injuring and killing generations of civilians and preventing successful rebuilding and economic recovery in the countries where they\u2019re used. We\u2019ve seen Russia\u2019s horrific use of cluster munitions in Ukraine \u2013 and we cannot faithfully criticize their actions while continuing to stockpile these deadly weapons ourselves. It\u2019s long overdue to apply our values consistently to our national security policies and end the use, production, export, and stockpiling of cluster munitions.\u201d\n\nRepresentative Keating said, \u201cIn April of this year, my colleagues and I sent a letter to President Biden following Russia\u2019s renewed invasion of Ukraine and Putin\u2019s use of cluster munitions. The use of cluster munitions in Ukraine by the Russian government has renewed the discussion related to US policy toward cluster munitions. Recognizing the harm that these munitions have caused in Ukraine against civilians, I believe the time has finally come for the United States to ban their use and destroy and remaining stockpiles we have.\u201d\n\nSenator Leahy said, \u201cCluster munitions are notorious for the indiscriminate carnage they inflict on civilians, and for that reason the Biden Administration rightly condemned Russia for using them in Ukraine. The convention banning cluster munition has been signed by 123 countries, but not the United States. The White House should recognize that these weapons do not belong in the arsenals of civilized nations, and put the U.S. on a path to join the convention.\u201d\n\n\u201cEvery year, countless innocent civilians around the world are injured and killed by cluster munitions. These weapons cause horrific suffering and death, and the bottom line is that they have no place in the world today. America cannot fairly criticize Russia for using cluster munitions in Ukraine while continuing to stockpile these weapons for future use,\u201d said Congressman McGovern. \u201cAs Co-Chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, I strongly believe that America must be a leader on this issue, stand up for human rights and the protection of civilians, and prohibit the use of these barbaric and indiscriminate weapons by our military.\u201d\n\nBackground: The United States last used cluster munitions during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, with the exception of a single attack in Yemen in December 2009. The U.S. has not exported cluster munitions of any kind since 2015, and they are no longer produced by any American company. The United States is also by far the world\u2019s leading supporter of efforts to clear unexploded cluster munitions from battlefields and to aid the victims.\n\nThe Honorable Joseph R. Biden\n\nPresident\n\nThe White House\n\nWashington, DC 20500\n\nDear Mr. President,\n\nSince Russia\u2019s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the world has witnessed, again, the devastating consequences of cluster munitions. Preliminary data collected by the Cluster Munition Monitor 2022 has documented at least 689 reported casualties due to cluster munition attacks in Ukraine in the first half of 2022 alone.\n\nIn a special United Nations meeting on March 2, 2022, UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield criticized Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in part for using cluster munitions, which she said have \u201cno place on the battlefield.\u201d Shortly thereafter, her speech was revised, removing that phrase, because the United States itself has yet to renounce these weapons. It is time for the United States to become a leader in banning cluster munitions which have a long history of causing disproportionate and indiscriminate harm to civilians.\n\nWhile we welcome your administration\u2019s recent review of, and improvements to, U.S. policy on anti-personnel landmines, and support for policies related to the protection of civilians in conflict more broadly, we have seen no indication of a similar review regarding cluster munitions. As a first step, we urge you to review your administration\u2019s cluster munitions policy and revise the Department of Defense\u2019s (DoD) 2017 Policy on Cluster Munitions, with the goal of banning these weapons. Additionally, we urge you to expedite the destruction of stockpiled cluster munitions, whose destruction was initiated by President George W. Bush.\n\nRecognizing the harm these munitions cause, the United States is by far the world\u2019s leading supporter of efforts to clear unexploded cluster munitions from battlefields and to aid the victims. In Laos, these efforts are addressing DoD\u2019s past use of the weapons, which continue to kill and maim civilians and make land inaccessible, 50 years later.\n\nThe United States last used cluster munitions during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, except for a single attack in Yemen in December 2009. We have not exported cluster munitions of any kind since 2015 and they are no longer produced by any American company.\n\nAmbassador Thomas-Greenfield was right. If the United States used cluster munitions today we would be criticized as we have condemned the Russians for using them in Ukraine. We should be leading the global effort to rid the world of these weapons, not continuing to stockpile them. The Convention on Cluster Munitions, which bans the weapons entirely, is supported by a majority of our NATO allies and 110 countries worldwide. We urge you to promptly order a review of U.S. policy on cluster munitions with the goal of halting their use, production, export, and stockpiling and putting the United States on a path to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions by a date certain.\n\n[[CLOSING]]\n\n[[SIGNATURES]]", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T03:32:05Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://sarajacobs.house.gov/news/press-releases/reps-jacobs-keating-mcgovern-and-sen-leahy-announce-letter-to-president-biden-calling-on-the-administration-to-review-us-policy-towards-cluster-munitions-and-prohibit-their-use-by-the-us-military"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.901205163449049, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}