Staff Reports
A bill to give $14.3 billion in government aid to Israel was just passed by the House of Representatives. This help is very important because Israel is still being attacked by Hamas attackers all the time. A huge majority of Republicans voted in favor of the bill, and 12 Democrats also voted to pass it. But not everyone agreed with them. Thomas Massie and Marjorie Taylor Greene were the only representatives who voted against the bill.
Chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, Gary Palmer, praised the bill's passing, saying that it not only helps a friend in need but also cuts the IRS's budget. Palmer thinks that these funds should be used to help Israel instead of being used by the IRS to check up on middle-class Americans. This is a good point, because the IRS has been known in the past for being too nosy and overreaching.
BREAKING: House GOP passes Israel aid bill offset by IRS funding cuts https://t.co/rmrxFEnMVN
— Fox News (@FoxNews) November 2, 2023
Randy Feenstra, a Republican representative, also talked about how important it is to support Israel, particularly since American citizens have been killed by Hamas terrorists. He thinks that we should do everything we can to help Israel beat and destroy Hamas in every way. The way Feenstra acts shows that he is deeply committed to our closest friend in the Middle East.
But the bill's future in the Senate is not clear. Leader of the Senate, Chuck Schumer, said the plan was bad and called it a "joke." Schumer thinks that linking aid to Israel to a far-right plan that will make the debt bigger is a partisan move that has nothing to do with the current crisis around the world. It's upsetting that Schumer doesn't think we need to help Israel fight terrorism right away.
If the bill gets to President Joe Biden's desk, he has said that he will kill it. It was announced by the White House that Biden will veto the bill because he had asked Congress for an extra $106 billion to help with problems like Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan, the U.S. border, and humanitarian causes. Biden putting other countries ahead of our closest friend in the Middle East is a worry.
The Israel aid bill was passed by the House of Representatives, which is a big step toward helping our friend. It's disappointing that the Senate is against it and that President Biden might block it. Instead of focusing on partisan politics, the US should help Israel and fight terrorists as its top priorities.
