The immediate effect will be to knock away much of the moral ground Washington sits on in this war.
Seems like a bad take. Making Ukraine whole is the greater moral priority.
Per the article, Russia and Ukraine have already been using cluster munitions with a 40% dud rate (unexploded ordinance being picked up by children being the major concern here) while the US cluster munitions under discussion have a 3% dud rate. These are not the same.
Yes it sucks that these will all have to be cleaned up afterwards, and there is a risk that some will be missed. But this isn't making the problem substantially worse than it already was, and Ukraine needs these for the success of its defense.