Democrat leadership in the House panned a Republican-led $17.6 billion aid package for Israel as a "cynical political ploy" and sent a guidance letter to the conference saying they would vote "no" on the stand-alone bill.
But other House Democrats, regardless of House Republicans' motives, see the measure as an opportunity to get much-needed funding to Israel, Axios reported, now that President Joe Biden's comprehensive aid package, tied to the bipartisan Senate border bill, has ostensibly died a quick death in the upper chamber.
House Republicans rushed the bill out over the weekend as an alternative to the Senate border bill, which House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had said would be dead on arrival in the lower chamber.
"Unfortunately, the stand-alone legislation introduced by House Republicans over the weekend, at the eleventh hour without notice or consultation, is not being offered in good faith," read the "dear colleague" letter penned by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.
"Rather, it is a nakedly obvious and cynical attempt by MAGA extremists to undermine the possibility of a comprehensive, bipartisan funding package that addresses America's national security challenges in the Middle East, Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific region, and throughout the world," they wrote.
"He believes this is a ploy, which it is – it's a cynical political ploy," former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said, according to the Axios report.
"There's no question that this is a cynical ploy," Rep. Kathy Manning, D-N.C., told Axios. "I support aid for Israel, and I hope we can move forward and also get humanitarian aid, I hope we can get aid for Ukraine."
Further, Reps. Ritchie Torres, D-N.Y., Brad Schneider, D-Ill., and Brad Sherman, D-Calif., are expected to vote for the package, according to Axios. In fact, the package is expected to get the support of more than a dozen House Democrats who supported the GOP's Israel aid bill in November that had IRS offsets. Axios reported that Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., spoke in favor of it in the closed-door leadership meeting Tuesday morning.
Johnson is also hemorrhaging support for the bill in his conference, too, due to the lack of offsets and border policy. The bill would need two-thirds majority to pass.
Either way, the White House said Monday that President Joe Biden would veto a stand-alone bill, but that was before his aid package + border bill died before ever leaving the Senate.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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