House passes $14.3 billion in aid for Israel, but Biden has said he’ll veto Israel-only bill

Suzanne Bates
·2 min read
167
Israelis gather next to a wall with photographs of hostages, mostly Israeli civilians who were abducted during the Oct. 7, unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023.
Israelis gather next to a wall with photographs of hostages, mostly Israeli civilians who were abducted during the Oct. 7, unprecedented Hamas attack on Israel, in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Thursday, Nov. 2, 2023. | Oded Balilty, Associated Press
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a $14.3 billion aid package for Israel on Thursday afternoon, setting up a showdown with the Senate and President Joe Biden, who has said he would veto an Israel-only aid bill.

The bill passed in a 226-196 vote, with 12 Democrats joining all but two Republicans in voting in favor of the bill. All three Utah congressmen, Reps. John Curtis, Burgess Owens and Blake Moore, voted in favor of the bill.

At the White House press briefing Thursday, coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council John Kirby confirmed that Biden plans to veto the Israel-only aid bill.

“The president would veto an only-Israel bill. I think that we’ve made that clear,” he said.

Biden has proposed a $106 billion aid package, which would include $14 billion for Israel, $61 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for immigration and $10 billion for humanitarian aid.

Related

But an increasing number of Republicans oppose sending additional funds to Ukraine without promises of accountability and oversight, including Utah Sen. Mike Lee.

The House bill would offset the aid to Israel by cutting money for the IRS included in the Inflation Reduction Act.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed frustration over the link.

“The hypocrisy here is that by cutting funding to go after tax cheats, (it) will actually explode the deficit by billions and billions of dollars. What a joke,” Schumer said about the House bill, according to CNN.

Schumer said the Senate would not consider the House bill.

“Instead, we will work together on our own bipartisan emergency aid package that includes aid to Israel, Ukraine, competition with the Chinese government and humanitarian aid to Gaza,” he said.