US House approves $14.3B military aid package for Israel amid Gaza war

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US House of Representatives passed a standalone $14.3 billion military assistance package Thursday for Israel amid Tel Aviv's ongoing invasion of the besieged Gaza Strip, but the legislation is unlikely to clear the Senate.

The House voted largely along party lines 226-196 to move the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024 out of the chamber, but it will likely be dead on arrival in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

President Joe Biden has further threatened to veto it because it excludes the vast majority of the over $105 billion in supplemental funding he requested from Congress in late October. The Senate is all but certain to bring Biden's wider spending pack to the floor with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer vowing not to take up the House's standalone bill.

In addition to the over $14 billion for Israel, the president requested $61 billion in new funding for Ukraine after nearly exhausting all previously appropriated funding to bolster Kyiv's forces, as well as additional funding for border security and other policy priorities. Just over $9 billion is being sought to fund humanitarian assistance projects, including in Gaza.

The Ukraine funding is proving to be a foil in the House, where Republicans have increasingly voiced opposition to providing Kyiv with more funding.

The US already provides Israel with about $3.8 billion in military aid annually -- the most of any nation worldwide.

The new funding would go towards replacing arms previously supplied to Israel, replenishing Israel's Iron Dome and David's Sling air and missile defense systems and aiding the development of the Iron Beam laser air defense system.

In addition to funding Israel, the House bill cuts funding for the Internal Revenue Service, the US tax authority, in a move the Congressional Budget Office said would contribute $26 billion to the national debt rather than lessen it.