Israeli president to address Congress as Democratic divisions over Israel break out

Israeli President Isaac Herzog is scheduled to deliver remarks before a joint meeting of Congress this week, a speech that is putting Democratic divisions over Israel on center stage.

The speech Wednesday is meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Israel’s statehood, and to reaffirm the U.S.-Israeli relationship. A number of progressive Democrats, however, announced last week that they would boycott Herzog’s speech in part as a protest against Israel’s policies towards Palestinians.

Adding to the dynamics, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) over the weekend said Israel was a “racist state” — a comment she walked back, but one that nonetheless drew strong pushback from inside the party.

Also this week, the Senate is slated to kick off the process to consider the annual defense bill, after the House approved its own version last week that included a number of controversial amendments pertaining to hot-button culture war issues. The House will take up legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration.

Additionally, the House is holding a number of high-profile hearings this week: The Oversight Committee will hear from Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the Judiciary Select Subcommittee on Weaponization will question IRS whistleblowers who say prosecutors slow-walked the Hunter Biden case.

Israeli president to visit Capitol Hill, some Democrats plan to boycott

Herzog’s speech — scheduled for 11 a.m. Wednesday — is putting a focus on the divide over Israel within the Democratic Party, as some lawmakers plan to boycott the remarks.

The list of lawmakers boycotting includes Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). In a lengthy Twitter thread last week, Omar pointed to policies toward Palestinians and noted that she and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) were denied entry to Israel in 2019 after they expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, which is pro-Palestinian.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) last week said he would “probably not” attend the speech.

The divide over Israel came more into focus over the weekend, when Jayapal, the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called Israel a a “racist state” during remarks at a conference. She later walked back her comments, writing in a statement, “I do not believe the idea of Israel as a nation is racist” while condemning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “extreme right-wing government.”

Her comment, nonetheless, sparked strong pushback. House Democratic leadership issued a statement Sunday night that began with “Israel is not a racist state,” and highlighted the relationship between Washington and Jerusalem.

Additionally, a Democratic aide confirmed to The Hill on Sunday that a group of House Democrats are circulating a statement that says they are “deeply concerned” about Jayapal’s “unacceptable comments about our historic, democratic ally Israel.”

Senate kicks off process for annual defense bill

The Senate is set to begin the process for considering the annual defense bill this week, just days after the House approved its version of the legislation that was loaded up with culture war amendments.

Senators on Tuesday will vote on a motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) — the first procedural vote for the measure.

The Senate, however, is taking up its own version of the NDAA and not the one the House approved last week. The House bill, passed mainly by Republicans, included GOP-sponsored amendments on hot-button issues including abortion, transgender rights and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives — measures that drove the vast majority of Democrats to oppose the typically bipartisan legislation.

The Senate Armed Services Committee approved the upper chamber’s version of the bill in an overwhelming, bipartisan 25-1 vote in June.

If the Senate approves its own bill, the two chambers may conference their measures to iron out the differences and craft a compromise bill. Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) last week suggested that would be the course of action: He already asked Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who was initially planning to oppose the bill but ultimately got on board, to sit on the conference committee.

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Or, if time is running short, the House may be forced to vote on the Senate version; lawmakers are staring down a Sept. 30 deadline.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) last week said top lawmakers and their teams will be working over the weekend to determine which measures can be included in the package of amendments.

“No senator wants a dilatory process,” Schumer said on the floor Thursday. “I know [Sens. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.)], who have done such a fine job putting together a bipartisan bill, will work with [Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)], and we will develop a list of amendment votes and hopefully can proceed from there.”

IRS whistleblowers on Hunter Biden case to testify

The House Oversight Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing Wednesday featuring two IRS whistleblowers who alleged that prosecutors slow-walked the investigation into Hunter Biden.

The hearing comes after the whistleblowers — IRS Supervisory Special Agent Gary Shapley and an unnamed IRS criminal investigator, referred to only as Whistleblower X — spoke to the House Ways and Means Committee. The panel shared testimony from the two individuals the day after U.S. Attorney for Delaware David Weiss announced the plea deal involving Hunter Biden.

Shapley claimed that Biden received preferential treatment and said prosecutors were hesitant to pursue search warrants. He also alleged that Weiss was not able to bring charges in Washington, D.C. — where Shapley believe that prosecutors could have brought the strongest case against Biden.

That claim, however, has received pushback: In a letter last week, the Justice Department said Weiss “has ultimate authority over the matter, including the authority to bring a case in any jurisdiction, consistent with federal law, the principles of federal prosecution, and department regulations.”

A spokesperson for the Oversight Committee told Semafor last week that the identity of the anonymous IRS whistleblower will be revealed at the hearing.

RFK Jr. to testify on Capitol Hill amid presidential campaign

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who is currently running for the Democratic presidential nomination — is slated to appear before a House panel Thursday for a hearing focused on the federal government’s role in censorship.

The hearing — put on by the House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government — is scheduled for Thursday at 9 a.m. In a release last week, the panel said, “The hearing will examine the federal government’s role in censoring Americans, the Missouri v. Biden case, and Big Tech’s collusion with out-of-control government agencies to silence speech.”

Breitbart News journalist Emma-Jo Morris and D. John Sauer, special assistant attorney general at the Louisiana Department of Justice, are also slated to testify.

The Missouri v. Biden case dates back to last May, when the attorneys general of Louisiana and Missouri filed a lawsuit against President Biden and other administration officials for “allegedly working” with social media companies — such as Meta, Twitter and YouTube — to censor and suppress free speech on topics such as COVID-19 and election integrity.”

The hearing comes as Kennedy challenges Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee. He has, however, remained far behind Biden in polls.

Thursday’s hearing could touch on previous instances where Kennedy received pushback online. In June, YouTube removed an interview he did with commentator Jordan Peterson because it violated its guidelines against vaccine misinformation.

Back in 2021, Kennedy was banned from Instagram for “repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines,” Facebook said at the time. In June, however, his account was reinstated.

House to take up FAA reauthorization

The House this week is set to take up a bill to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration and aviation and safety infrastructure programs (FAA) for the next five years.

The measure — titled the Securing Growth and Robust Leadership in American Aviation Act — advanced out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in a 63-0 vote last month. Congress has until Sept. 30 to reauthorize.

“The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 expires on September 30, 2023, and it is important to reauthorize these vital programs as well as continue to improve our aviation system to ensure America remains the gold standard,” the office of House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) wrote in its floor lookout Sunday night.

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