Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer should realize the importance of the House military aid bill for Israel that passed Thursday in "bipartisan fashion," said Rep. John Rutherford, R-Fla.
"Listen, this passed in a bipartisan fashion last night. There are Jewish members here in the House who voted in favor of this package," Rutherford said Friday during an appearance on Newsmax's "Newsline."
"They understand the exigency of getting this aid over to Israel. I think Sen. Schumer should realize that ... and recognize that we have a $33 trillion deficit, and we have to do this in a responsible way," he added.
The House Thursday passed a Republican plan to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel and cut funding of the IRS, despite Democrats' insistence it has no future in the Senate and despite the White House's promise of a veto.
The measure passed 226-196, largely along party lines, a shift from typical strongly bipartisan congressional support for providing aid to Israel. Twelve Democrats voted with 214 Republicans for the bill, and two Republicans joined 194 Democrats in objecting.
Schumer railed against the proposal, declaring it a "joke" and "stunningly unserious."
"Speaker [Mike] Johnson and House Republicans released a totally unserious and woefully inadequate package that omitted aid to Ukraine; omitted humanitarian assistance to Gaza; no funding for the Indo-Pacific; and made funding for Israel conditional on hard-right, never-going-to-pass proposals," Schumer said on the Senate floor Wednesday. "What a joke."
Because it combined aid for Israel with a cut to the IRS and left out aid for Ukraine, President Joe Biden promised a veto and Schumer said he would not bring it up for a vote.
"Certainly, taking this money from the IRS, which was destined for 87,000 new IRS agents, it's certainly the best place to go, I believe, and I support Speaker Johnson's decision on that 100%."
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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