- Unlike a previous Israeli bill passed by the House of Representatives, the new bill costs more and does not include provisions to offset these costs
- The Senate has proposed a $110 billion package with aid for Ukraine, Israel and border security provisions that House leaders have stressed they will not bring up
- The US gives $3.8 billion to Israel every year
Unlike an earlier $14.3 billion Israeli bill passed by the House of Representatives in November, the new legislation Johnson announced Saturday costs more and does not include any provision to offset those costs, they say.
“The most principled action Chairman Johnson has taken to date was the decision to pass a stand-alone, fully funded Israel financing bill in November,” the 50-member House Freedom Caucus said in a statement.
Johnson can likely pass the relief legislation even if he moves away from the right flank. Democrats are expected to largely support the bill.
“It is extremely disappointing that the Chairman is now yielding to perceived pressure to submit an even larger, but now unpaid, aid package for Israel – reversing his position to demand new additional expenditures to be offset,” continued the Freedom Caucus.
Right-wing conservatives have already called Speaker Mike Johnson’s $17 billion Israeli aid bill “extremely disappointing.”
The caucus recommended a number of possible rewards: “cutting United Nations funding, repealing the IRS expansion, repealing the Commerce Department’s slush fund, or ending left-wing tax credits against climate change.’
Each year the US appropriates approximately $3.8 billion in aid to Israel.
But all of these would likely hold up the relief package in the Democratic-led Senate. The House Israel’s last $14 billion bill was paid for by cutting IRS funding and died in the Senate as a result of the offsets.
“When our nation runs a monthly deficit of $200 billion and a national debt of $34 trillion, America should not and should not borrow to support Israel,” said the Freedom Caucus, led by Rep. Bob Good, R-Va. in a statement.
On the other side of the party, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner is concerned about the bill’s lack of support for Ukraine.
Palestinians look at a residential house destroyed during an Israeli attack in Rafah, Gaza Strip, Monday, February 5, 2024
“I’m concerned about the strategy,” he said on CBS’s Face the Nation Sunday.
“I think we have four major threats to national security. We have Ukraine, we have Israel, and what’s going on in the Middle East, and we have our border. We are currently negotiating these four. Ukraine must be financed.’
Aid to the US’s key ally has remained at an impasse since the October 7 Hamas attack, which prompted Israel to launch a bloody offensive in a bid to eradicate the terror group.
According to the Gaza Health Ministry, around 1,200 Israelis were killed in the Hamas attack, and around 27,000 Palestinians were killed by Israel in response.
It comes just as the Senate has presented a $118 billion package that includes aid to Ukraine and Israel and border security provisions that House Republican leaders have stressed they will not bring up in the House of Representatives.