Helping Israel is "far more important" than hiring extra Internal Revenue Service agents, Rep. Dan Meuser told Newsmax on Tuesday, while defending a plan unveiled by House Republicans to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel by cutting IRS funding.
"There's some big dollars that Israel needs and funding for military equipment is an urgent emergency matter," the Pennsylvania Republican said on "Wake Up America." "The idea that we would couple that with Ukrainian funding is certainly a non-starter for me, but it's a little outrageous trying to just leverage an unaccountable amount of funding."
President Joe Biden, in an Oval Office address in the days after the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel, proposed a bill for $105 billion that allows aid for Ukraine, Israel, the Indo-Pacific region, and humanitarian assistance, with the bulk of the money earmarked for Ukraine.
The House plan, though, separates the funding for Israel from the president's proposed funding legislation.
"I'm all for support for Ukraine, but the American taxpayer deserves transparency and accountability for every dollar," said Meuser.
But at this point, there is an "emergency situation" with Israel, said Meuser.
"What Speaker Mike Johnson is doing, I support entirely," he added. "He is a very good friend of mine, and I respect him. He's showing respect for the American people, and we need to have accountability. People want some responsibility."
Johnson's proposal for Israel funding is expected to face stiff opposition in the Democrat-controlled Senate, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., does not favor splitting up the aid bill, reports The Hill, but Meuser said he thinks Americans want transparency and will think the Senate is wrong.
"If you've got to spend another $61 billion — that's what's in this bill — we've already provided Ukraine with over $110 billion," he said. "The EU and NATO nations [with] equal GDP ratios have put in about 60% of what the United States taxpayers have put into Ukraine. We need to support Ukraine but it needs to be in parity with our so-called allies. We can't be taken advantage of … $40 billion should be coming from the EU and NATO, not from the American taxpayers."
Meanwhile, Meuser accused the State Department of "laziness" when it comes to dealing with the Israel situation.
"We're not working on the Israel end of things," he said adding that the United States should be working with Egypt to set up corridors and temporary refugee camps so Palestinian civilians can escape and Israel can "annihilate this terrorist group Hamas."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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