The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a Republican plan to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel and cut funding of the Internal Revenue Service, despite Democrats' insistence it has no future in the Senate and the White House's promise of a veto.
The measure passed 226 to 196, largely along party lines, a shift from typical strongly bipartisan congressional support for providing aid to Israel. Twelve Democrats voted with 214 Republicans for the bill, and two Republicans joined 194 Democrats in objecting.
The bill's introduction, as lawmakers rushed to respond to the attack on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas militants, was the first major legislative action under new Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.
But because it combined aid for Israel with a cut to the Internal Revenue Service and left out aid for Ukraine, President Joe Biden promised a veto and Senator Chuck Schumer, majority leader of the Democratic-controlled Senate, said he would not bring it up for a vote.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The measure passed 226 to 196, largely along party lines, a shift from typical strongly bipartisan congressional support for providing aid to Israel.
The bill's introduction, as lawmakers rushed to respond to the attack on Israel by Iran-backed Hamas militants, was the first major legislative action under new Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Biden has asked Congress to approve a broader $106 billion emergency spending package including funding for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine, as well as humanitarian aid.
"This is the first step in the process and I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting the bill so we can get funds to Israel as soon as possible," said Republican Representative Kay Granger, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, during debate on the legislation.
House Republican leaders combined the cost of the aid to Israel with cutting some funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that Democrats included in Biden's signature 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, prompting Democrats to accuse them of using Israel's crisis to score political points.
Republicans, who objected to the increased IRS funding from the beginning, said cutting the agency's budget was essential to offset the cost of the military aid to Israel, whose tanks and troops took on Hamas on the outskirts of Gaza City on Thursday.
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