The Republican-led House was set to approve a $14.3 billion measure for Israel’s war with Hamas, defying President Biden’s request to pair it with aid for Ukraine and likely opposition from the Senate.
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Israeli armored vehicles on the border with the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. President Biden has requested $105 billion in aid for Israel and Ukraine, and other global crises.
The House on Thursday headed toward passage of a $14.3 billion aid package for Israel in its war with Hamas, defying a veto threat from President Biden and bipartisan opposition in the Senate, and posing a dilemma for Democrats who staunchly back the Jewish state.
Lawmakers were set to vote on a bill put forward by the newly elected Speaker Mike Johnson that would condition military funding for Israel on slashing the same amount for a tax enforcement initiative at the Internal Revenue Service, part of the Inflation Reduction Act and a key piece of President Biden’s agenda.
The measure is headed for a bipartisan bloc of opposition in the Senate, where lawmakers favor packaging aid for Israel with money to help Ukraine fend off Russia’s invasion, as well as for other global crises. Mr. Biden has requested such a package, totaling $105 billion, and White House officials said on Tuesday that he would veto the House bill because it was limited to Israel and contained “partisan poison pill offsets.”
Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and the majority leader, said in a speech ahead of the House vote on Thursday that the Senate would not take up the House-passed proposal at all, and would instead craft its own bipartisan bill containing aid for Israel and Ukraine, and humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“It still mystifies me that when the world is in crisis and we need to help Israel respond to Hamas, the G.O.P. thought it was a good idea to tie Israel aid to a hard-right proposal that will raise the deficit and is totally, totally partisan,” Mr. Schumer said.
But Republicans pressed ahead with their legislation, saying that lawmakers needed to pass aid to Israel without delay and in a fiscally responsible manner, setting up a clash with the Senate that could extend for weeks. The House voted Thursday morning along party lines to allow the bill to come up for debate, teeing up a vote on final passage later in the afternoon.
Image“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,” Speaker Mike Johnson said of his proposed legislation.Credit…Kenny Holston/The New York Times
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. Leading Democrats including Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, made the case privately on Thursday for Democrats to oppose the bill.
Representative Jared Moskowitz of Florida vented on social media this week that the legislation was intended to be used against Democrats “as a future political mailer. ‘You chose the I.R.S. over Israel.’” He said he would not take that bait and would support it, but that the bill would be dead in the Senate.
“I will support Israel,” he wrote.
Several pro-Israel Democrats said they objected to the legislation because it represented the first time the Congress tried to put conditions on emergency aid.
Representative Brad Schneider of Illinois said that “in my worst nightmares, I never thought I would be asked to vote for a bill cynically conditioning aid to Israel on ceding to the partisan demands of one party.”
“I also never thought that a day would come that I would be asked to consider voting against an aid package for Israel, our most important ally in the Middle East, and maybe in the world,” Mr. Schneider said.
He continued: “But I cannot support the terribly flawed, weak and dangerous bill Speaker Johnson and the Republicans have on the floor today.”
The bulk of the money in the G.O.P. measure is meant to help Israel replenish and bulk up its weapons systems, including $4 billion to replenish the Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile defense systems. It also includes $200 million for the protection of U.S. personnel and evacuation of U.S. citizens. It leaves out humanitarian aid for Gaza, which Mr. Biden has requested and many Democrats regard as crucial.
“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 did not attach the spending cuts “for political purposes,” but because House Republicans were “trying to get back to the principle of 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. His predecessor, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, was ousted after he passed two bills — one to avert the nation’s first default on its debt and the other to avert a shutdown — that did not have majority backing from his House Republicans.
ImageThe Iron Dome missile defense system intercepting rockets fired from Gaza in Sderot, Israel, last month. Credit…Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times
Two Republicans said ahead of the vote that they would not support the legislation, arguing that American taxpayer money should be spent on Americans.
“If Congress sends $14.5 billion to Israel, on average we’ll be taking about $100 from every working person in the United States,” Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky wrote on social media. “This will be extracted through inflation and taxes. I’m against it.”
A stand-alone bill sending aid to Israel without any spending cuts likely would have won overwhelming support. But the inclusion of the measure alienated many Democrats.
Representative Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said the bill “failed Israel.”
“What the House Republicans have done is unprecedented and will mean any aid to Israel will be delayed,” Ms. DeLauro said.
Ms. DeLauro added: “This bill tells our allies that should they find themselves in an existential war for their democracy and their freedom, we will not put aside our partisan wars.”
The legislation also leaves Mr. Johnson out of step with all three other congressional leaders. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the minority leader, said on Tuesday that he and Mr. Schumer were “conceptually” on the same page when it came to linking aid for Ukraine, Israel, the southern border and Taiwan.
“We view all of these problems as connected,” said Mr. McConnell, a leading proponent in Congress of sending aid to Ukraine.
Mr. Johnson said on Thursday that he intended to attach legislation to deal with immigration at the southern border with aid for Ukraine, a pairing that acknowledges how toxic stand-alone funding for Kyiv has become among Republicans.
“It’s just a matter of principle that, if we’re going to take care of a border in Ukraine, we need to take care of America’s border as well,” he said.
Catie Edmondson is a reporter in the Washington bureau, covering Congress. More about Catie Edmondson
A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 15 of the New York edition with the headline: House Set to Pass Aid Bill for Israel, Setting Up Clash With Biden And Senate. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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Source: nytimes.com
