Battle brews over aid to Israel as White House accuses Republicans of ‘politicizing national security’
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Joe Biden and many lawmakers in Congress, Democrat and Republican alike, want to send Israel billions of dollars in aid to help its increasingly controversial fight against Hamas, but the request appears destined for Washington DC’s partisan meat grinder. Late yesterday, Mike Johnson, the newly installed Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, made good on expectations he would bring a far-right approach to the job by introducing a bill to send $14.3b to Israel that would be paid for by cutting from the Internal Revenue Service’s budget. You might remember that the tax authority received a big funding infusion last year from the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s signature legislative accomplishment, and Republicans have been trying to rescind that money ever since.
The proposal is sure to satisfy Johnson’s conservative supporters but will almost certainly be rejected by the Democratic-led Senate, where many Republicans may also vote against it because it lacks funding for Ukraine – as Biden had also requested. “Threatening to undermine American national security unless House Republicans can help the wealthy and big corporations cheat on their taxes – which would increase the deficit – is the definition of backwards,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said after the bill was released. Expect plenty of squabbling over this today and the days to come.
Here’s what else is going on:
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The Democratic-led Senate judiciary committee said it would vote on sending subpoenas to Harlan Crow, Leonard Leo and Robin Arkley II, all conservatives who have been involved in organizing luxury trips for supreme court justices.
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Earl Blumenauer, a longtime Democratic congressman from Oregon, announced he will step down when his term is up. He represents a strongly blue district around Portland.
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Jean-Pierre will brief reporters at 1pm eastern time, along with National Security Counsel spokesman John Kirby.
Key events
Secretary of state Antony Blinken has finally started his testimony to the Senate appropriations committee, which was delayed after protesters repeatedly interrupted him:
“Blinken, you have blood on your hands! Murderer!”
— Pro-Palestinian protesters interrupt Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s testimony to the Senate Committee on Appropriations pic.twitter.com/cYqnLZ6odn
— The Recount (@therecount) October 31, 2023
Here’s a Capitol police officer escorting out one of the protesters:
On Capitol Hill, protesters chanting “ceasefire now!” interrupted secretary of state Antony Blinken’s testimony before the Senate appropriations committee.
Blinken is testifying about the Biden administration’s request for $106b in aid for Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, and for border security.
Here’s the scene as police removed the protesters, reportedly from anti-war group Code Pink, from the hearing room:
Israel’s invasion of Gaza is now under way, sparking warnings from humanitarian agencies that civilians are at terrible risk amid the fighting.
We have a separate live blog covering the latest in the conflict, and you can find it below:
The request for a funding bill that will send aid to Israel and Ukraine as well as improve border security stems from an Oval Office address Joe Biden made earlier this month. The president had just returned from Israel, which was at the time making preparations for a ground invasion of Gaza to retaliate against Hamas for the 7 October terrorist attack. Here’s the writeup from the Guardian’s David Smith on how Biden made the case that Ukraine and Israel were two worthy causes united by a common thread:
Joe Biden has drawn a direct, provocative link between Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’s attack on Israel as he urged Americans not to walk away from their role as “a beacon to the world”.
In only the second Oval Office address of his presidency, Biden said he would ask Congress to provide aid for both Israel and Ukraine and denounced the scourge of antisemitism and Islamophobia at home.
The president’s 15-minute address sought to weave the Ukraine and Middle East conflicts together to convince war-weary voters and hardline Republicans of America’s obligations. It is a conflation that will make some uneasy, especially as Israel, with vastly superior military power, prepares for a ground invasion of Gaza.
“Hamas and Putin represent different threats, but they share this in common: they both want to completely annihilate a neighboring democracy,” said Biden, sitting at the Resolute desk with flags, family photos, gold curtains and a darkened window behind him.
Senate Democratic leader says cutting IRS funding makes Israel aid ‘much harder to pass’ – report
Yesterday, CNN heard from the Senate’s Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, who signaled that the cuts to the IRS proposed by Mike Johnson and the House Republicans would be unacceptable.
Schumer’s support is essential for getting any bill through Congress’s upper chamber. Joe Biden and his allies, along with some Republicans including Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, want aid for Israel and Ukraine approved in the same bill –not separately, as Johnson had proposed.
Here’s what Schumer had to say:
New — House Rs unveil $14.3B aid package for Israel — with rescission on IRS funding.
Schumer just told us: “Obviously, a pay for like that makes it much harder to pass.”
Spending cuts typically not part of emergency aid packagesSchumer says Ukraine should be included also pic.twitter.com/agFr7eVeqM
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 30, 2023
Battle brews over aid to Israel as White House accuses Republicans of ‘politicizing national security’
Good morning, US politics blog readers. Joe Biden and many lawmakers in Congress, Democrat and Republican alike, want to send Israel billions of dollars in aid to help its increasingly controversial fight against Hamas, but the request appears destined for Washington DC’s partisan meat grinder. Late yesterday, Mike Johnson, the newly installed Republican speaker of the House of Representatives, made good on expectations he would bring a far-right approach to the job by introducing a bill to send $14.3b to Israel that would be paid for by cutting from the Internal Revenue Service’s budget. You might remember that the tax authority received a big funding infusion last year from the Inflation Reduction Act, Biden’s signature legislative accomplishment, and Republicans have been trying to rescind that money ever since.
The proposal is sure to satisfy Johnson’s conservative supporters but will almost certainly be rejected by the Democratic-led Senate, where many Republicans may also vote against it because it lacks funding for Ukraine – as Biden had also requested. “Threatening to undermine American national security unless House Republicans can help the wealthy and big corporations cheat on their taxes – which would increase the deficit – is the definition of backwards,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said after the bill was released. Expect plenty of squabbling over this today and the days to come.
Here’s what else is going on:
-
The Democratic-led Senate judiciary committee said it would vote on sending subpoenas to Harlan Crow, Leonard Leo and Robin Arkley II, all conservatives who have been involved in organizing luxury trips for supreme court justices.
-
Earl Blumenauer, a longtime Democratic congressman from Oregon, announced he will step down when his term is up. He represents a strongly blue district around Portland.
-
Jean-Pierre will brief reporters at 1pm eastern time, along with National Security Counsel spokesman John Kirby.
