WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told Republicans on Saturday that the House will vote next week on a standalone bill to provide aid to Israel, with no offsetting spending cuts.
Johnson made the announcement in an afternoon letter to colleagues while criticizing the impending Senate legislation that would pair Israel aid with funding for Ukraine and a package of tougher border security and asylum laws.
“While the Senate appears poised to finally release text of their supplemental package after months of behind closed doors negotiations, their leadership is aware that by failing to include the House in their negotiations, they have eliminated the ability for swift consideration of any legislation,” Johnson wrote, adding that the House “will have to work its will on these issues and our priorities will need to be addressed.”
Johnson blasted the Senate for what he called its “failure to move appropriate legislation in a timely fashion,” arguing the House needs to act in the absence of leadership from the upper chamber amid “the perilous circumstances currently facing Israel.”
“Next week, we will take up and pass a clean, standalone Israel supplemental package,” he wrote. “During debate in the House and in numerous subsequent statements, Democrats made clear that their primary objection to the original House bill was with its offsets. The Senate will no longer have excuses, however misguided, against swift passage of this critical support for our ally.”
The bill is set to include $17.6 billion in military aid to Israel “as well as important funding for U.S. Forces in the region, Johnson’s office said. A prior bill passed by the House, early in Johnson’s speakership, would have provided $14.3 billion in aid to Israel, attached to IRS cuts that Democrats said were a poison pill.
The legislation, called the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, is set to be introduced by Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., the speaker’s office said.
The unexpected move indicates that Johnson is digging his heels in against an immigration compromise and Ukraine funding, while suggesting that Israel aid is the only part of President Joe Biden’s national security supplemental request that House Republicans are prepared to pass.
It’s unclear the Senate will take up a standalone Israel aid. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said he wants to start voting next week on the broader supplemental and immigration bill, with text expected to release on Sunday.
The White House has previously signaled opposition to a standalone Israel aid bill, with the National Security Council’s coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby saying in November, “The president would veto an only-Israel bill. We — I think that we’ve made that clear.”
