Servicemember Quality of Life Improvement and National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2025
Floor Speech
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Mr. MOULTON. Mr. Chairman, I claim the time in opposition.
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Mr. MOULTON. Mr. Chair, I begin by yielding 30 seconds to the gentleman from Alabama (Mr. Rogers), the chairman of the committee and my friend.
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Mr. MOULTON. Mr. Chairman, I point out that we all care about Ukrainian kids, but do you know who cares about Ukrainian kids the most? Ukrainians.
Ukrainians care about Ukrainian kids. They are the ones asking for these munitions to use on their own territory. They understand the consequences. They understand the dud rates. They understand the danger.
Most of all, they understand the danger of losing this war to Russia, of having their kids kidnapped, taken away, or killed.
That is why the Ukrainians want these munitions, and that is why we are giving them to them.
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Mr. MOULTON. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson), my friend.
Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Chairman, I oppose this amendment. Prohibiting the transfer of cluster munitions, specifically in the context of Ukraine, would have disastrous impacts on the Ukrainian ability to push back war criminal Putin's barbaric invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is currently using every weapon in its arsenal, including cluster munitions, to murder civilians and hit civilian infrastructure. I have seen firsthand in Bucha, Ukraine, where families were forced from their homes, their hands tied behind their backs, and then the Putin troops shot members of the family in the head and buried them in the yard. We must fight back.
Additionally, in the Indo-Pacific, it has been reported by Admiral Harry Harris that this is a deterrent to the dictatorship of Kim Jong- un of North Korea, and we know that is the largest artillery complex in the world facing the people of Seoul, Korea.
We are in a conflict we did not choose with dictators with rule of gun invading democracies with rule of law, threatening civilians, and it has always been clear that Ukraine is the first invasion of this current conflict.
With further promises by Putin to restore the Soviet Union by invading Georgia and Moldova, threatening Armenia, Estonia, and Poland, we know that we must support Ukraine. It is existential for Ukraine, and it is existential for the United States.
We can see that today, as Putin has sent nuclear warships to Cuba, 90 miles away from our border. We must stand together with the people of Ukraine and provide them the best equipment to stop the war criminal Putin.
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Mr. MOULTON. Mr. Chairman, may I inquire as to how much time is remaining.
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Mr. MOULTON. Mr. Chairman, we support this bill. We are opposed to this amendment because we want this war to end. We want to bring this war to a conclusion. The Ukrainians need these munitions to fight for their freedom.
No one wants to be in this position of having to argue in favor of cluster munitions, but this is the reality on the ground for Ukraine today. It is also the reality on the ground that the Russians are using far more cluster munitions with far higher dud rates.
Don't think for a second that Ukraine doesn't understand they are going to have cluster munitions on the ground that need to be cleaned up. They are mostly going to be Russian munitions.
The longer this war goes on, the longer it takes to push Russia back in this criminal war started by war criminal Vladimir Putin, the more unexploded cluster munitions from Russia are going to be on the ground.
We have to stand by Ukraine so that Putin doesn't continue this war not only to take over Ukraine but to take over Europe. We have to stand by Ukraine to prevent American boys and girls from going to fight. That is why we are in the position we are in today.
Let's defeat this amendment, and let's end this war.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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