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The US House of Representatives has approved legislation to provide $14bn in new aid to Israel, but the bill faces resistance in the Senate and opposition from the White House because it fails to fund Ukraine or other foreign policy priorities.
The Republican-led lower chamber of Congress passed the Israel aid package with 226 votes in favour and 196 voting against it.
Although Joe Biden supports aid for Israel, the White House and Democrats have opposed the Republican legislation because it represents only a small chunk of the $106bn funding package that the US president demanded last month. That package also included assistance for Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific, humanitarian aid and US border security.
In addition, the bill passed on Thursday included a measure gutting funding for the Internal Revenue Service’s crackdown on tax avoidance among large businesses and wealthy individuals, making it especially toxic for Democrats.
“This irresponsible, partisan bill abandons the people of Ukraine and innocent Palestinian civilians in need of humanitarian aid, undermines our national security, and only delays our ability to support Israel’s defence against Hamas,” Katherine Clark, the Democratic whip in the House said after the vote.
“The president would veto the ‘Israel only’ bill. We’ve made that clear, I think,” John Kirby, the White House National Security Council’s co-ordinator for strategic communications, said on Thursday.
The final vote tally in the House fell mostly along party lines, but 12 Democrats joined the Republican majority supporting the bill, while two Republicans opposed it.
At a press conference ahead of the vote, Mike Johnson, the new Republican House Speaker who won the post last month after weeks of chaos on Capitol Hill, said the need to support Israel had united members of his party.
“We have to stand with Israel. And so even our most hardline fiscal conservatives and those who typically oppose the idea of foreign aid in principle, they understand the necessity of this,” he said.
However, Johnson also opened the door to supporting legislation in the near future that would offer additional funding for Ukraine if paired with new money for border security.
Legislators in both the House and the Senate hope to clinch a compromise agreement on new budget measures by November 17 so they can avoid a government shutdown. But the Biden administration is pressing Congress to act quickly rather than proceed piecemeal.
Speaking in London after attending the UK’s summit on artificial intelligence, Kamala Harris, the US vice-president, blasted the Republican approach.
“These folks who want to be considered as leaders in the midst of global crises of proportion we have not seen in a very long time, are playing political games with people,” she said.
