House Speaker Johnson Says Stand-Alone Israel Bill Coming Next Week
© AFP 2023 / ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS
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Without a bill forthcoming from Congress, US President Joe Biden has continued to supply weapons to Israel and Ukraine using emergency provisions and old stocks to bypass Congressional approval.
The US House of Representatives is set to vote on a “clean, standalone” Israeli aid package next week, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) announced on Saturday.
The bill will include $17.6 billion in aid for Israel and will not include any other funding or offsets. A previous Israeli aid bill passed by the House included $14.3 billion for Israel and offset that with a corresponding cut to the IRS.
The bill will include $17.6 billion in aid for Israel and will not include any other funding or offsets. A previous Israeli aid bill passed by the House included $14.3 billion for Israel and offset that with a corresponding cut to the IRS.
That bill stalled in the Senate, with Democrats in the upper chamber complaining that the cuts to the IRS would actually increase the deficit according to the Congressional Budget Office. Johnson hopes that removing that offset will push Democrats into supporting the bill.
“During debate in the House and in numerous subsequent statements, Democrats made clear that their primary objective to the original House bill was with its offsets,” the Speaker wrote in a letter to colleagues on Saturday. “The Senate will no longer have excuses, however misguided, against swift passage of this critical support for our ally.”
Meanwhile, the Senate is set to reveal the text of its supplemental spending bill that is said to include aid for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan and border security. Republicans previously demanded that any bill including funding for Ukraine would have to include major concessions from Democrats on border security.
Last month, it appeared that Senate leaders from both parties had struck a deal on the border, but after former President Donald Trump blasted the bill on social media, several other Republicans came out against the bill, seemingly killing its chances to pass in the House where the former President holds significant sway.
“Please blame [the bill’s potential failure] on me, please, because they were getting ready to pass a very bad bill,” Trump said at a campaign rally in Nevada last week.
Johnson said that if the Senate bill includes what it is rumored to, it is dead on arrival in the House. Regardless, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said he plans to bring the Senate bill to the floor for a procedural vote on Wednesday.
“Given the Senate’s failure to move appropriate legislation in a timely fashion, and the perilous circumstances currently facing Israel, the House will continue to lead,” Johnson wrote. “Next week, we will take up and pass a clean, standalone Israel supplemental package.”
In October, US President Joe Biden asked Congress for $108 billion in financial aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, but no spending bill including those packages has made it through Congress as of yet.
It is unclear if Schumer will bring the House stand-alone bill to the floor. He previously expressed hesitation to take up any issues covered in the Senate supplemental bill.
