The House will vote for a An independent bill to provide aid to Israel as hard-right Republicans are trying to prevent Senate bipartisan border bill seeks to impose stricter immigration and asylum laws and includes foreign aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., on Saturday announced the vote On a separate Israel bill after the Senate reached a tentative deal on immigration. The Senate announced the text of the document bilateral border bill Sunday, linking Israel and Ukraine with a package of tougher border security and asylum laws.
Johnson’s office said the independent Israel bill includes $17.6 billion in military aid to the country, as well as “significant funding for US forces in the region.” The bill, titled the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, is expected to be introduced by Rep. Ken Calvert of California, the speaker’s office said. The bill does not include Johnson’s spending reimbursements, which Democrats objected to in previous legislation.
At the beginning of Johnson’s speech The House passed the bill It would have provided $14.3 billion in aid to Israel, but also included IRS cuts opposed by Senate Democrats and President Joe Biden.
The Biden administration on Monday formally threatened to veto an independent Israel aid bill, saying it was “strongly opposed” to the measure after months of working with a bipartisan group of senators to agree on legislation aimed at securing and securing the border. Aid to Ukraine and Israel.
“Instead of working in good faith to address the most pressing national security challenges, this bill is another cynical political maneuver,” the Office of Management and Budget said in an administration policy statement.
“Israel’s security should be sacrosanct, not a political game,” OMB said in a statement. “The administration strongly opposes this ploy, which does nothing to secure the border, does nothing to help protect the Ukrainian people from Putin’s aggression, does not support the security of American synagogues, mosques and sensitive places of worship, and denies humanitarian aid. to Palestinian civilians, most of whom are women and children.”
The Israel aid bill comes as Republican hardliners try to block the Senate’s bipartisan $118 billion border bill. The measure includes provisions seeking to eliminate record crossings at the southern border and foreign aid to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. Republicans have said they would support foreign aid to these countries if it was tied to new policies limiting US immigration.
But Johnson said that after the border bill was unveiled “He’ll Die When He Comes” If he gets home. So did the top four House Republican leaders — Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana, Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota and Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik of New York. they oppose the bill “Because it fails in every policy area needed to secure our border and will actually encourage more illegal immigration.”
An aid bill to Israel would require a two-thirds majority to pass the House under a fast-track process for review — a steep hurdle. The independent measure is also expected to die on its way to the Democratic-led Senate.
Complicating matters for Johnson, the legislation faces opposition from the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which criticizes the lack of provisions to offset spending cuts elsewhere.
“Speaker Johnson’s most principled step to date was his decision to pass a stand-alone, fully paid-for Israel funding bill in November that demonstrates our commitment to fiscally responsible support of our most important ally,” the House Freedom Caucus said. in the statement. “It is extremely disappointing that the Speaker has now bowed to perceived pressure to move a larger but now outstanding Israeli aid package – reversing his position to demand new additional spending offsets.”
“Conservatives should not be forced to choose between borrowing money to support our special friend, Israel, or fulfilling our commitment to end unpaid overspending that exacerbates our nation’s unsustainable fiscal crisis and further risks our ability to respond to future crises,” they said.
Gael Fobes, Sahil Kapoor and Julia Jester contributed.