President Joe Biden would veto a proposed standalone aid package for Israel, the White House said Monday, as House Republicans look to tank a long-awaited bipartisan Senate border deal that would include aid to US allies.
“The Administration spent months working with a bipartisan group of Senators to reach a national security agreement that secures the border and provides support for the people of Ukraine and Israel, while also providing much-needed humanitarian assistance to civilians affected by conflicts around the world,” the White House wrote in a statement. “Instead of working in good faith to address the most pressing national security challenges, this bill is another cynical political maneuver.”
“The security of Israel should be sacred, not a political game,” the statement continued.
The bill, floated by House Speaker Mike Johnson last week, comes as the Senate’s $118.2 billion legislative package, which would give the president powers to significantly restrict illegal migrant crossings at the southern border as well as provide billions of dollars to Israel and Ukraine, faces mounting GOP opposition amid pushback from House Republicans and former President Donald Trump.
CNN previously reported that Johnson was planning to move a $17.6 billion Israel bill with no offsets, upping pressure on Democrats to support it, but it has run into some headwinds on the right and the left.
In an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju Monday, Johnson called Biden’s veto threat “a betrayal of our great ally and friend Israel in their time of desperate need.”
He added, “I mean, Israel is at war, they’re fighting for their very existence. And the idea that Joe Biden would suggest that he would not send a clean funding measure to assist them is just outrageous. And I…
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