(DailyDig.com) – On October 30, House Republicans proposed slashing IRS funding by $14.3 billion to help Israel. This has set up a battle with Senate Democrats.
Using monies previously granted by Democrats to enlarge the IRS, House Republicans propose to slash it by almost $14 billion in order to fund emergency help to Israel.
Despite Democrat President Joe Biden’s proposal for a $106 billion plan that would include help for Ukraine, Israel, and border security, one of the first significant policy moves under incoming House Speaker Mike Johnson was to propose a solo supplemental funding measure just for Israel.
Before being elected House speaker last week, Johnson voted against help for Ukraine and stated that he preferred aid sent to Ukraine and Israel to be administered independently. He has expressed a need for more transparency over the use of assistance funds provided to the Kyiv administration to counter Russian aggression.
In a discussion last week, he said that he wants to treat the financial crises in Israel and Ukraine as two different concerns.
Johnson has stated that strengthening assistance for Israel ought to lead the national security agenda of the U.S. in the wake of the October 7 onslaught by Hamas terrorists that massacred over 1,400 individuals and witnessed over two hundred more held prisoner.
Democrats said that Republicans had introduced a political measure to Congress in order to impede its capacity to aid Israel. The plan is not feasible, per Karine Jean-Pierre, the press secretary for the White House. She declared that Republicans were politicizing national security. The bill has to be approved by both houses of Congress and then signed into law by President Joe Biden.
The leading Democrat, Representative Rosa DeLauro, on the House Appropriations Committee, said that House Republicans are creating an unacceptable pattern by saying that reacting to natural disasters or preserving national security is reliant upon cutbacks to other programs.
The House Rules Committee is slated to examine the Republican Israel measure on November 1.
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