October 30, 2023
$14.3 billion. That’s how much money the brand new Speaker of the House has proposed the United States allocate for aid to Israel.
Like the President’s request for aid to Israel – the bulk of the money is going to our own Defense Department to so it can transfer weapons available right now in our stockpile to Israel and then DOD can use the money to buy new American made weapons to replenish our stockpile.
But it also includes $3.5 billion for the State Department to address emergency issues in Israel, evacuate people if necessary and provide for foreign military financing to arm Israel.
Now – there are a couple of interesting things about this bill.
First — the new Speaker has suggested offsetting this funding by cutting it out of the $80 billion Congress gave the IRS in the Inflation Reduction Act last year. And second – this bill is silent on aid for Ukraine.
Both of those issues at this point are non-starters for the United States Senate, Democrats and even some Republicans. Notably, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he wants to see Israel and Ukraine aid in the same package but there are also several Republicans in the House who say they are a no vote on this bill because it’s just too much money.
We could see a vote on this bill by the end of this week.
Read the bill language here.
