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Despite late night rules committee switch, the need to prevent sending these weapons to Ukraine prevails over politics.

by James R. Webb, Responsible Statecraft

Late in the evening of July 12, while the rest of Washington was sound asleep, Congress was hard at work finalizing amendments to the FY 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. Sadly, while the late night for Congress was atypical, the work of undermining good legislation and, thereby the will of the American people, was not.

The House Rules Committee used the cloak of the evening to silently remove an amendment to the NDAA by Reps. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), which would have banned the U.S. from exporting cluster munitions to any country across the globe.

Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) in conversation with Sara Carter during CPAC Texas 2022 conference at Hilton Anatole

Why? Quite simply, it appeared that the amendment had too much support, as the final tally of co-sponsors reached 12, including two Republicans, mainly in reaction to last week’s announcement that the Biden administration is providing cluster munitions to Ukraine — marking the first time the U.S. has ever exported this highly controversial weapon to another country.

Replacing Rep. Jacobs’ amendment is a similar, yet more narrow amendment from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), which only bans the export of cluster munitions to Ukraine.

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Militarism and Foreign Policy