House OK’s Israel aid but plan requires cuts
WASHINGTON — The House approved $14.5 billion in military aid Thursday for Israel, a muscular US response to the war with Hamas but also a partisan approach by new Speaker Mike Johnson that poses a direct challenge to Democrats and President Biden.
In a departure from norms, Johnson’s package required that the emergency aid be offset with cuts in government spending elsewhere. That tack established the new House GOP’s conservative leadership, but it also turned what would typically be a bipartisan vote into one dividing Democrats and Republicans. Biden has said he would veto the bill, which was approved on a largely party-line vote.
Johnson, Republican of Louisiana, said the Republican package would provide Israel with the assistance needed to defend itself, free hostages held by Hamas, and eradicate the militant Palestinian group, accomplishing “all of this while we also work to ensure responsible spending and reduce the size of the federal government.”
Democrats said that approach would only delay help for Israel. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, has warned that the “stunningly unserious” bill has no chances in the Senate.
The first substantial legislative effort in Congress to support Israel in the war falls far short of Biden’s request for nearly $106 billion that would also back Ukraine as it fights Russia, along with US efforts to counter China and address security at the border with Mexico.
It is also Johnson’s first big test as House speaker as the Republican majority tries to get back to work after the month of turmoil since ousting Representative Kevin McCarthy, Republican of California, as speaker. Johnson has said he will turn next to aid for Ukraine along with US border security, preferring to address Biden’s requests separately as GOP lawmakers increasingly oppose aiding Kyiv.
The White House’s veto warning said Johnson’s approach “fails to meet the urgency of the moment” and would set a dangerous precedent by requiring emergency funds to come from cuts elsewhere.
While the amount for Israel in the House bill is similar to what Biden sought, the White House said the Republican plan’s failure to include humanitarian assistance for Gaza is a “grave mistake” as the crisis deepens.
Biden on Wednesday called for a pause in the war to allow for relief efforts.
“This bill would break with the normal, bipartisan approach to providing emergency national security assistance,” the White House wrote in its statement of administration policy on the legislation. It said the GOP stance “would have devastating implications for our safety and alliances in the years ahead.”
To pay for the bill, House Republicans have attached provisions that would cut billions from the IRS that Democrats approved last year and Biden signed into law as a way to go after tax cheats. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says doing that would end up costing the federal government a net $12 billion because of lost revenue from tax collections.
Republicans scoffed at that assessment, but the independent budget office is historically seen as a trusted referee.
Democrats pleaded for Republicans to restore the humanitarian aid Biden requested and decried the politicization of typically widely bipartisan Israel support.
“Republicans are leveraging the excruciating pain of an international crisis to help rich people who cheat on their taxes and big corporations who regularly dodge their taxes,” said Representative Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, the top Democrat on the House Rules Committee.
Pro-Israel group starts ads targeting Tlaib
WASHINGTON — A Democratic pro-Israel group on Thursday began airing television ads that criticize Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, in the first attempt to hit back on the airwaves at the growing caucus of Israel skeptics within the Democratic Party.
The ad from the group, Democratic Majority for Israel, comes as President Biden and other Democrats face a backlash from the left for their stalwart support of Israel as it bombs and invades the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.
Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress and one of two Muslim women in the House, has been one of the most outspoken progressive supporters of the Palestinian cause. She is one of 18 House Democrats who have co-sponsored a resolution that calls for a cease-fire in the conflict.
The ad, which was set to air on broadcast and cable in Detroit, where Tlaib’s district is based, denounces Tlaib’s votes against funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile protection system and against a resolution to condemn the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. The ad argues that the cease-fire legislation “would allow the terrorists to rearm themselves.”
Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster who is the president of Democratic Majority for Israel, said, “It’s important to us for people who live in the Detroit area to understand what her positions have been and just how out of step and radical her positions have been.”
He added, “We hope that will lead her to either moderate her positions or perhaps for someone who is more moderate to be interested in the race.”
Mellman said, however, that his group was “not actively recruiting” candidates to challenge Tlaib next year.
Democratic Majority for Israel has bought just over $100,000 in advertising on broadcast stations, CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC in the Detroit market, according to data compiled by Medium Buying, an advertising firm.
Tlaib, whose term ends in January 2025, does not have a major primary opponent, and has not faced a well-funded challenger since she was first elected to Congress in 2018.
Last year, she took 64 percent of the primary vote against three Democratic rivals. Her district votes overwhelmingly Democratic in general elections.
Richard Czuba, an independent pollster with an expertise in Michigan politics, said Tlaib was broadly popular in her district, which covers parts of Detroit and its suburbs, including Dearborn, and was known locally for her strong constituent service. Dearborn has a large population of Arab and Muslim Americans.
Tlaib has said that she voted against US funding for Israel’s military because it had “no conditions on upholding human rights” of Palestinians. She said she voted against the resolution condemning the Oct. 7 attack “because it is a deeply incomplete and biased account of what is happening in Israel and Palestine, and what has been happening for decades.”