The House Appropriations Committee for Responsible Budget: An End to Israel’s “Poison pill”? a Reply to the House Majority Causal Questions
The Democrats want a comprehensive emergency supplemental package and full- year funding bills for the next two years. The government will close down if Congress doesn’t pass a spending bill by November 17.
Democrats oppose the bill on two fronts. Emergency funding of this type is typically offset with cuts, and they say that the Ukraine money cannot be separated from Israel. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Monday that “politicizing our national security interests is a nonstarter.”
She said in a statement that House Republicans are setting a “dangerous precedent” by suggesting that responding to emergencies is contingent upon cutting other programs.
The amount of emergency supplemental funding is determined by the House Appropriations Committee.
Senate Foreign Relations Chair Ben Cardin, D-Md., called it a “poison pill,” while Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D.-Fla., said in a statement that Johnson’s “political games are offensive to all pro-Israel Americans.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are likely to oppose the bill just based on precedent, not wanting to tie emergency funding — which Congress usually takes up separately — with spending cuts.
“It actually doubled down on the borrowing by rescinding money that goes to the IRS, which would translate into a larger loss of money in collected revenues,” MacGuineas says. That bill could be as expensive as the actual bill if the IRS funding was pulled back.
But she says taking money away from the IRS — which she describes as probably the only federal program that pays for itself — is “not the smartest offset if what you want to do is be fiscally responsible.”
The committee for a responsible federal budget is headed by Maya MacGuineas, who told Morning Edition that the idea of offsetting the cost of foreign aid is a sensible approach.
Johnson said the bill aims to take some of the IRS funds to deal with the immediate national security need, adding that “we’ll deal with the rest of that issue later.”
The IRS has been underfunded for quite some time, according to the Brookings Institution. Its enforcement budget was slashed nearly a quarter in the last decade, and further cutting its budget remains a top Republican priority.
In fact, earlier this month it launched a new initiative — using federal funding — aimed at ensuring large corporations pay the taxes they owe, among other efforts.
The IRS will use that money to update its computer systems, improve customer service and step up its enforcement of tax laws that go unheeded every year because wealthy people underreport their income, one of the ways in which the IRS can make sure it collects $600 billion in taxes every year.
The IRS is the agency who handles tax return processing, taxpayer service and enforcement, and the bill that the House passed would cut some money from its budget.
Reply to the Democrat Causality Matters: Why Do We Need Further Aid to Israel? Invocations of the Ukrainian Embassy to the U.S.
The secretary of state and the defense secretary made a case for the continued aid to their countries in front of the committee. They were interrupted by protesters who wanted to draw attention to the conflict in the Middle East.
“We’re not just gonna print money and send it overseas,” he said. Our own strength as a nation, which is tied to our fiscal stability, is the other concern we have. It is a big problem for us as well. As we try to help everyone else we need to keep that in mind.
Still, Johnson stressed the need to prioritize standalone aid to Israel while offsetting the costs. He said standing with Israel is a “more immediate need than IRS agents.”
“This is a moment for swift and decisive action to prevent further loss of life, and to impose real consequences on the tyrants who have terrorized the people of Ukraine and Israel,” McConnell said. “And right now, the Senate has a chance to produce supplemental assistance that will help us do exactly that.”
But Democrats are not alone in their objections. McConnell has repeatedly said the two issues are related. He specifically tied the two causes together on Monday in a speech introducing the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S. at an event in Louisville.
Johnson acknowledged the bill is likely to drive away Democrats, telling FOX News he intends to call Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for a “direct and thoughtful conversation about this.”
But more than a year and a half into the war, House Republicans are increasingly opposed to sending aid to Ukraine for both fiscal and foreign policy reasons. Johnson opposed money for Ukraine before he became speaker, and has since advocated for limited spending and handling funding for Ukraine and Israel separately.
The White House asked Congress last week for nearly $106 billion, the vast majority for Ukraine, with the rest split up between Israel, the Indo-Pacific and the southern U.S. border. It’s asking for $14.3 billion in funding for Israel — the same as the House’s standalone bill — including for air and missile defense, military financing and embassy support.
The president of the United States said in a rare Oval Office address last week that Russia and Hamas want to destroy a neighboring democracy. Biden said if they didn’t pay the price for what they had done, there would be more chaos, death and destruction.
“Demanding offsets for meeting core national security needs of the United States — like supporting Israel and defending Ukraine from atrocities and Russian imperialism — would be a break with the normal, bipartisan process and could have devastating implications for our safety and alliances in the years ahead,” she added.
Source: House Republicans aim to pay for Israel aid with cuts to IRS funds
Up First Briefing: Israel won’t agree to a cease-fire; how tech messes with our senses (revised version)
The Republican led House passed a resolution declaring its support for Israel and pledged to provide funding needed to defeat Hamas on the day Mike Johnson took office.
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Source: Up First briefing: Israel won’t agree to a cease-fire; how tech messes with our senses
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