Matt Gaetz: “I would observe that we cannot have a goal of creating parity with the Ukrainian military and the Russian military. If…”

“I would observe that we cannot have a goal of creating parity with the Ukrainian military and the Russian military. If that is the case, why not send nuclear weapons? These cluster bombs are indiscriminate. They have killed tens of thousands of people. You just heard my colleague say that when this is all done we will be right back here on the floor appropriating money to demine the cluster munitions that we are now sending, which seems ludicrous to me. Madam Chair, I yield to the gentlewoman from Minnesota (Ms. McCollum), the distinguished ranking member, for her thoughts on the matter. Ms. McCOLLUM. Madam Chair, I rise in support of this amendment. The decision by the Biden administration to transfer cluster munitions to the Ukraine, in my opinion, was unnecessary and a sad mistake. Congress has been clear in prohibiting the transfer of any cluster munitions with a dud rate greater than 1 percent. The legacy of U.S. cluster munitions into the battlefield in Ukraine undermines our moral authority and places the U.S. in a position that directly contradicts 23 of our NATO allies who have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions. The legacy of cluster bombs is misery, death, and an expensive cleanup after generations of use, and I have been in Laos, and I have worked with other countries to clean up this legacy. As has been pointed out, the U.S. pays tens of millions of dollars annually to remove cluster munitions from Laos and the Vietnam area.…”