Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are urging House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to pass a Senate foreign aid bill following Iran’s drone strikes that targeted Israel over the weekend, but the House is unlikely to take up the bill, complicating matters.
The Senate passed a $95 billion bill in February that would send funding to Ukraine and Israel, as well as to allies in the Indo-Pacific such as Taiwan, and humanitarian help to civilians in Gaza and Ukraine. However, the legislation has been held up in the House due to Republican skepticism over the conflict in Ukraine, as well as GOP demands for border security measures.
In the wake of Iran’s unprecedented drone strikes on Israel over the weekend, Senate leaders are calling for more urgency to pass foreign aid to Israel, but the exact path forward remains unclear.
“The best way to help Israel is for the House to swiftly pass the Senate’s bipartisan national security supplemental,” Schumer said during a speech on the Senate floor on Monday afternoon. “The House must rush to Israel’s aid as quickly as humanly possible, and the only way to do that is passing the Senate Supplemental ASAP.”
“In fact, there’s no reason for the House not to move on the Senate supplemental as soon as today,” Schumer said.
McConnell also spoke on the Senate floor and urged the House to pass the bill in an effort to stand in solidarity with both Israel and Ukraine.
“The Senate passed an urgent national security supplemental two months ago, two months ago,” McConnell repeated. “Anyone taking the challenges we face seriously knows these unmet needs are absolutely urgent. So, I’ll once again urge our House colleagues to take up this legislation without delay.”
A group of conservative Republican senators, including Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Roger Marshall (R-KS), is planning to attempt to pass a bill by unanimous consent on Monday evening that would provide $17.6 billion to Israel, but it is not expected to move forward. Senate Democrats have rejected other attempts to separate funding for Israel from the other foreign aid.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Shortly after the Senate leaders publicly asked the House Speaker to take action, he was meeting behind closed doors with the GOP conference attempting to find a path forward on the foreign aid bill. It is looking increasingly unlikely the House will take up the Senate’s full legislation. House Republicans are considering voting on a slate of bills to provide foreign aid for each country individually.
In November, the House passed a bill providing $14.3 billion in aid to Israel, but Democrats objected to the fact that the bill did not include aid to Ukraine and would enact funding cuts to the IRS.