Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2005

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2005 -- (House of Representatives - June 22, 2004)

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to House Resolution 683 and rule XVIII, the Chair declares the House in the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union for the consideration of the bill, H.R. 4613.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. MCCOLLUM. Mr. Chairman, I rise to urge my colleagues to support a provision regarding cluster munitions that I have included in the Manager's Amendment to the Fiscal Year 2005 Defense Appropriations bill.

I also want to thank you, Chairman LEWIS, and Ranking Member MURTHA for recognizing the unintended collateral damage and human damage caused by cluster munitions.

The provision would require that the Department of Defense issue to Congress a written report on steps being taken to reduce the dangerous, unintended consequences of cluster munitions and submunitions. In particular, it will help hold the Pentagon accountable to their own policy standards and to the American people by helping ensure cluster munitions have a failure rate, or "dud-rate", of 1 percent or less.

Cluster munitions are large weapons that contain hundreds of smaller submunitions, which upon release spread across a broad footprint and explode. These weapons continue to be used extensively by the U.S. military, even while alternatives and advanced technology exists.

The use of cluster bombs in populated areas has taken a tremendous humanitarian toll. According to USA Today, one Iraqi father, after witnessing a U.S. cluster bomb strike in Iraq that killed his son, said "Regular shells would hit only one spot, not every place just like a rain of death."

Cluster munitions strike without distinction. They rain hundreds of thousands of smaller submunitions. Many of these submunitions have high dud rates-as high as 10 percent to 30 percent in certain instances-which leave large numbers of unexploded submunitions that become de facto landmines that continue to kill and main, even long after the conflict is over.

Extremely hazardous, these unexploded "duds" have been lethal for U.S. soldiers, peacekeepers, and local civilians.
Children, especially, are often tempted to pick up these weapons since submunitions are small and can appear to be an intriguing object to play with.

The use of cluster munitions is widespread. In Iraq, for example, Human Rights Watch used Pentagon figures to estimate that the use of cluster munitions in populated areas in Iraq caused more civilian casualties than any other factor in the coalition's conduct of major military operations.

U.S. and British forces used almost thirteen thousand cluster munitions, containing nearly two million submunitions that killed or wounded more than one thousand civilians.

Cluster munitions also take a toll on U.S. service personnel. A tragic example, reported by the Associated Press, involves U.S. Army Sergeant Troy Jenkins.

After seeing an Iraqi child pick up a cluster submunition off the ground. Sergeant Jenkins rushed over to take the cluster submunition from the child. The "bomblet" then exploded and Sergeant Jenkins was killed.

Today, countless U.S. service personnel encounter this unexploded ordnance. It makes their job extremely difficult and much more dangerous than it already is.

The Pentagon has recognized the dangers of cluster munitions and has looked for solutions. In 1999, then-Secretary William Cohen issued a department-wide policy memorandum stating that all submunitions that reach full rate production during the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2005 must meet a failure rate standard of 1 percent or less. I ask unanimous consent to put a copy of Secretary Cohen's memo into the Congressional Record to accompany my statement.

Despite this action, the Pentagon continues to produce and procure cluster munitions that have high "dud" rates when other alternatives are available. The Department's budget for the coming fiscal year contains several procurement requests for weapons programs that do not meet the 1 percent or lower standard. This is unacceptable. It is time for the Pentagon to stop buying or using cluster weapons that employ old technology.

Mr. Chairman, our troops in the field, their families and the American people deserve accountability and answers from the Pentagon. It is time for the Pentagon to purge our arsenal of legacy submunitions and move toward the 1 percent dud rate. This report will help in these efforts, but it is not nearly enough.

In the end, I believe we must find a way to ensure cluster munitions are never used in populated areas and we must do more to address the unintended consequences of these weapons. Our troops, their families and the innocent victims living in post-conflict areas deserve our full attention.

Again, I thank Chairman LEWIS and Ranking Member MURTHA for their support of this provision, I urge its passage.