Nearly 50 House Democrats voted for an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would attempt to block President Joe Biden's plan to ship cluster munitions to Ukraine, The Hill reported.
The controversy stems from the wide area over which hundreds of projectiles are dispersed, some of which may not detonate and can become dangerous for civilians. Over 100 countries have banned these weapons, but not the United States, Ukraine, and Russia.
Although the amendment, which was spearheaded by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., failed to pass during a floor vote, 49 Democrats voted for it along with 98 Republicans.
Many of the House's leading progressives, including Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Ro Khanna, D-Calif., and Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., voted for the amendment.
"Cluster munitions are illegal under international law. A total of 123 countries have ratified the convention to ban their use under all circumstances — including nearly all our allies," Omar said in a statement on Friday.
"It's not hard to understand why. Because cluster bombs scatter multiple small bombs over a large area, they kill civilians both during an attack and after. I was recently in Vietnam where I heard firsthand how innocent civilians continue to be killed by U.S. cluster munitions a full 50 years after the conflict ended. Tens of thousands of explosives are found every year there."
National Security Advisory Jake Sullivan said in a press conference last week that sending cluster munitions is "a difficult decision."
"It's a decision we deferred," he said. "It's a decision that required a real hard look at the potential harm to civilians.
"When we put all of that together, there was a unanimous recommendation from the national security team, and President Biden ultimately decided, in consultation with allies and partners and in consultation with members of Congress, to move forward on this strategy."