Submunition Ban Introduced in Congress

Washington, D.C. Congressman McGovern (D-Massachusetts) introduced a Bill in the House of Representatives to limit the use of cluster munitions (i.e. submunitions). HR 981 known as the 'Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act of 2009' only allows the use of submunitions to be deployed against defined military targets that have less than a 1 percent failure rate.

The Bill allows for a Presidential waiver if the National Security of the United States is in jeopardy. The Presidential waiver requires steps to be taken to protect civilians and to outline the use of self-destruct devices. The Bill also requires that a cleanup plan be submitted to Congress no later than 90 days after submunitions are deployed to protect civilians. HR 981 can be viewed using the Download link below.