U.S. House of Representatives passes $14.3B bill in Israel aid

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill on Thursday to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel, although the White House called for aid to Israel to be paired with additional security assistance for Ukraine in its war against Russia.

The House vote was 226 to 196. Two Republicans opposed the bill and 12 Democrats supported it, Ukrinform reports, citing CNN.

In an attempt to offset the cost of the $14.3 billion in Israel aid, the House bill would rescind $14.3 billion in funding for the Internal Revenue Service. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said, however, that the proposal to offset aid to Israel by cutting IRS funding would add to the deficit and result in roughly $26.8 billion in lost revenue over 10 years.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has called the House GOP bill a "deeply flawed proposal" that the Senate will not take it up. Democrats are objecting to the fact that the bill does not include aid to Ukraine and would enact funding cuts to the Internal Revenue Service.

Schumer said say that the Senate "will not be considering this deeply flawed proposal from the House GOP. Instead, we will work together on our own bipartisan emergency aid package that includes aid to Israel, Ukraine, competition with the Chinese government and humanitarian aid to Gaza."

The deep divide between the House and Senate comes as government funding is set to expire on November 17 and the threat of a potential government shutdown looms.

The new House speaker, Mike Johnson, has defended his decision to make Israel aid conditional on IRS spending cuts and signaled he would not support an emergency supplemental package if it does not include offsets.

"Ukraine will come in short order, it will come next," Johnson said. "And you've heard me say that we want to pair border security with Ukraine … If we're going to take care of a border in Ukraine, we need to take care of America's border as well."

Johnson also reiterated that he believes "we're going to need another stopgap funding measure" to avoid a government shutdown on November 17, and favors one that lasts until January 15, but said they're still figuring out exactly what it would look like.

Earlier the White House said that President Joe Biden would veto a bill on aid to Israel if it does not take into account other security issues, including support for Ukraine.