Bill needed a two-thirds majority of the House chamber to pass
On Tuesday, a proposed package to allocate $17.6 billion to Israel was unsuccessful in gaining approval from the House of Representatives.
The package encountered opposition from the White House, which threatened a veto, advocating for Congress to incorporate Israeli aid into a broader $118 billion supplemental security package.
Additionally, GOP hard-liners opposed the package, insisting on offsetting the expenditure with spending cuts in other areas.
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Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., introduced the legislation over the weekend, criticizing the Senate and White House for excluding the House from discussions regarding a supplemental security funding and border policy bill.
The House GOP bill was expedited for a vote on Tuesday by suspending House rules. This process bypasses a procedural hurdle called a rule vote, requiring a two-thirds majority for passage instead of a simple majority.
In the end, despite receiving 250 votes in favor and 180 against, the bill failed to garner sufficient support. Forty-six Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while 166 voted against it. Among Republicans, 14 lawmakers voted against the Israel aid, while 204 voted in favor of it.
Rep. Michelle Steel, R-Calif., condemned lawmakers from both parties who did not support the bill following the unsuccessful vote.
“It is disappointing and unacceptable that so many members failed to stand behind Israel as they defend their citizens from terrorists intent on wiping them off the map,” Steel told Fox News Digital. “We must maintain absolute moral clarity and resolve. History will remember those who choose to remain silent.”
Leaders of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus opposed the bill on Sunday due to its lack of offsets.
One of Johnson’s initial actions as speaker was to introduce a $14.3 billion Israel aid bill on the House floor. However, the proposed funding would have been balanced by funds allocated to the IRS by President Biden. This approach was deemed a “poison pill” and a non-starter by the Democratic-controlled Senate.
“Well, it’s unfunded, and our borders are wide open. I can’t go to my constituents and say, ‘Here’s $17 billion,’ even for someone I deeply support like Israel, a close ally,” stated Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, to Fox News Digital.
However, Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., a conservative not affiliated with the Freedom Caucus, contended that offsets, such as those demanded by hard-liners, would have minimal impact on addressing the national debt. He argued that addressing the debt would require actions such as reducing interest rates, stimulating economic growth, and reforming mandatory spending.
“Many people pleaded, ‘Please have a pay-for, or else they’re going to vote against it,'” Murphy said regarding a Tuesday morning House GOP meeting. “And I understand. I get it. But in this particular instance, it’s just dust… we’re not going to make a dent in our debt.”
“People aren’t considering the broader context… You need to grasp a much larger geopolitical perspective to truly understand it.”
Meanwhile, the White House and Democratic leaders in the House offered sufficient support to their party members to defeat the bill.
The Biden administration criticized the bill as a “cynical political maneuver” in response to the Senate’s bipartisan negotiations on security funding and border policy.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., along with his fellow Democratic leaders, announced on Tuesday afternoon their intention to vote against the bill: “We are ready to support any serious, bipartisan effort regarding the special relationship between the United States and Israel, our closest ally in the Middle East. Unfortunately, the standalone legislation introduced by House Republicans over the weekend, at the last minute without notice or consultation, is not being presented in good faith.”
Johnson criticized Democrats for opposing the bill following Tuesday’s vote and accused them of leveraging Israel aid to pass the remainder of their supplemental funding request.
“After waiting nearly four months for the Senate to take action, House Republicans, operating in good faith, introduced a clean, standalone bill—a significant concession we were prepared to make given the seriousness of the situation—to address Democrats’ expressed concerns with the previous aid package,” the speaker stated.
“Democrats have failed to provide any significant policy objections to the current legislation. They are now intent on using Israel’s aid as a bargaining chip to push through other priorities that lack nearly as much consensus. Using Israel’s aid as leverage while it struggles for survival is unjust. The White House and congressional Democrats should feel ashamed.”