Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida has joined a small number of House Democrats on a measure to block President Biden from sending cluster bombs to Ukraine.
The bipartisan measure is an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act and is one of more than 1,500 add-ons tacked on to the bill since the House Armed Services Committee passed it last month.
The House is expected to consider the NDAA this week after the House Rules Committee pares down the massive list of amendments on Tuesday.
Mr. Gaetz announced Monday on his podcast, “Firebrand with Matt Gaetz,” that he would be the Republican co-sponsor on the amendment.
“These cluster bombs will not end the war in Ukraine and will not build a more stable country,” Mr. Gaetz said on social media. “Children will be left without limbs and without parents because of this decision if we do not work together in a bipartisan fashion to stop it.”
The Pentagon announced last week that the U.S. would send to Ukraine cluster bombs, which have been banned in numerous countries because of the risk unexploded munitions pose to civilians. Mr. Biden defended the decision over the weekend.
The move has drawn criticism and pushback from members of Mr. Biden’s own party.
Rep. Ilhan Omar, Minnesota Democrat, decried the Biden administration’s plan. Ms. Omar said the munitions are illegal under international law, adding that more than 100 countries have agreed to ban their use under “all circumstances.”
“It’s not hard to understand why,” Ms. Omar said in a statement. “Because cluster bombs scatter multiple small bombs over a large area, they kill civilians both during an attack and after. I was recently in Vietnam where I heard firsthand how innocent civilians continue to be killed by US cluster munitions a full fifty years after the conflict ended. Tens of thousands of explosives are found every year there.”
Ms. Omar and Mr. Gaetz have co-sponsored the bipartisan amendment, which was proposed by Rep. Sara Jacobs, California Democrat.
While Mr. Gaetz is the lone conservative to join the handful of Democrats on the amendment, he is not the only member of the House GOP who has voiced opposition to the president’s plan.
Rep. Cory Mills, Florida Republican, rebuked the Biden administration’s decision on social media. Mr. Mills, like Ms. Omar, said that sending cluster bombs to Ukraine would go against the many other countries that have banned their usage.
He added that doing so would intentionally roll the U.S. “further into warfare.”
“This is NOT the way,” Mr. Mills said on social media. “Stop using Ukraine as a proxy, commit to diplomacy, and protect innocent lives.”
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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