A Capitol Hill Valentine

Senator Diane Feinstein

Just before Valentine’s Day, a bipartisan group of 20 Senators, led by Patrick Leahy (VT) and Dianne Feinstein (CA), and a bipartisan group in the House, led by Rep. James McGovern (MA), showed some love by introducing the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2009 (S.416/H.R.981). The bill prohibits the use by U.S. forces of cluster munitions with a dud rate greater than one percent and forbids any use of cluster munitions in civilian-populated areas. Read Sen. Leahy’s floor statement.

The U.S. military still has more than 700 million submunitions stockpiled, and it has been the largest user of cluster munitions in the past decade.  In July 2008, faced with growing international pressure, the Pentagon released a new policy announcing that, after 2018, it will limit the use of cluster munitions to more reliable systems (those that, “after arming, do not result in more than one percent of unexploded ordnance across the range of intended operational environments”).  While this new policy recognizes the humanitarian concerns associated with cluster bombs, the USCBL thinks it offers too little, too late.

So we are encouraging the Obama Administration to reconsider past administration’s decision to stand outside the global cluster bomb ban treaty. The day before Congress introduced the draft legislation on cluster munitions, FCNL sent a letter to President Obama from leaders of sixty-seven national organizations calling for a review of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. While the Obama Administration has not yet articulated its position on the new treaty, FCNL hopes that this letter and growing support for the new legislation will show President Obama that there is public support for bringing U.S. policy in line with that of our closest allies.

Other Senators who co-sponsored the bill in the last Congress are expected to re-join shortly, and we expect that many of the newly-elected Senators will want to join Freshman Sen. Jeff Merkley (OR) in co-sponsoring the bill. They need some encouragement from their constituents! Urge your senator and representative to co-sponsor this new legislation.  
 
The bill will save lives and bring U.S. policy in line with the new international consensus against the “bombs that keep on killing.”