The Importance of Security for Israel: The Congressional Budget Office Appropriately Protected Against an Aid Package that Forbids Humanitarian Aid
The measure made for a tricky vote for many pro-Israel Democrats, who were eager to support the Jewish state at a time of crisis but reluctant to embrace a bill that omits help for Ukraine and humanitarian aid and takes aim at their domestic policy priorities. The leading Democrats, including Hakeem Jeffries of New York, made the case to the Democrats that they should not vote for the bill.
Mr. Schneider never thought he would have to consider voting against a package of aid for Israel, our most important ally in the Middle East.
“It provides Israel with the aid it needs to defend itself, free its hostages and eradicate Hamas, which is a mission that must be accomplished,” Mr. Johnson said at a news conference. “All of this while we also work to ensure responsible spending and reduce the size of the federal government to pay for that commitment to our friend and ally.”
Mr. Johnson said he was attached to the spending cuts because House Republicans wanted to get back to fiscal responsibility.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday that the spending cuts laid out in the bill would actually increase the deficit by $12.5 billion over the next decade because the measure would reduce revenue collections.
Mr. Johnson appears to have structured the Israel legislation in an effort to keep his conference, which is deeply divided over funding foreign wars, united in the early days of his speakership. Kevin McCarthy was ousted as Speaker after he passed two bills that did not have the support of the majority of his House Republicans.
The House approved a Republican-led resolution on college campus activism over the Israel-Hamas war. The resolution condemns support for Hamas and Hezbollah at higher education institutions.
Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is balancing the need to support his GOP allies in the House while also fighting to keep the aid package more in line with Biden’s broader request, believing all the issues are linked and demand U.S. attention.
The House Way Forward: Rep. J.Tlaib Censures the Israeli Embassy and a Senate Dem Demographer Against Israel’s War Crime
The Republicans have been attacking Democrats who are questioning Israel’s war tactics. The only Palestinian American in Congress, Rep. Tlaib, had the House try to censure her. The censure measure failed.
Goldman claimed that he opposed the bill because it would turn the situation in Israel and the Jewish people into a political weapon.
Goldman said he hid in the stairwell with his family while visiting Israel and called it the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
McGovern said Republicans were using the crisis to help people who cheat on taxes and big corporations who dodge their taxes.
Democrats pleaded for Republicans to restore humanitarian aid Biden requested and decried the politics of Israel support during the floor debate.
The House approved a $14.5 billion military aid package for Israel, which is being viewed as a direct challenge to Democrats and President Joe Biden.
In a departure from norms, Johnson’s package required that the emergency aid be offset with cuts in government spending elsewhere. That tack established the new House GOP’s leadership, but it also turned what would typically be a bipartisan vote into one dividing the two party’s members. Biden has said he would veto the bill, which was approved 226-196, with 12 Democrats joining most Republicans on a largely party-line vote.
The first big test of Johnson’s speakership will be the Republican majority trying to get back into work after a month of turmoil. Johnson has said that he will follow Biden’s requests to help Ukraine and the U.S. border security rather than addressing them individually.
The White House’s veto warning said Johnson’s approach “fails to meet the urgency of the moment” and would set a dangerous precedent by requiring emergency funds to come from cuts elsewhere.
While the amount for Israel in the House bill is similar to what Biden sought, the White House said the Republican plan’s failure to include humanitarian assistance for Gaza is a “grave mistake” as the crisis deepens.
The White House stated in a statement that the bill would break with usual bipartisan approach to emergency national security assistance. It said the GOP stance “would have devastating implications for our safety and alliances in the future.”
White House chief of staff Jeff Zients, counselor to the president Steve Ricchetti and other senior White House staff have been engaging House Democrats, said a person familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it.
Source: House approves nearly $14.5 billion in military aid for Israel
The Congress isn’t Going to Pay for the Cuts: Biden’s Tax-Cuts Means More Than $26 billion to the Internal Revenue
To pay for the bill, House Republicans have attached provisions that would cut billions from the IRS that Democrats approved last year and Biden signed into law as a way to go after tax cheats. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says doing that would end up costing the federal government a net $12.5 billion because of lost revenue from tax collections. Taken together, the cost of the aid package and revenue reduction adds up to more than $26 billion.