The House’s struggle to send $14 billion in emergency aid to Israel is exposing political rifts that leave America looking like a divided super power unable even to rush help to a friend that believes it’s fighting an existential war.
A vote on the package had been expected on Thursday, though that timeline now appears at risk of slipping, as the country’s political schisms and a fractured foreign policy consensus once again threaten to paralyze governing.
It shouldn’t be this hard.
For years, a vote on aid to Israel might have been one of the least controversial measures to come up in the House all year. But delays in moving the measure, the fragile balance of power in Washington and feuds between and inside both parties over the new Middle East war show that there’s no longer any easy vote.
The commotion around the issue largely centers on newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to pay for the $14.3 billion in aid to Israel with an equal amount of cuts from the budget of the Internal Revenue Service. This is popular with conservatives but means that many Democrats will vote against what they see as a political stunt.
The Israel package is also being dragged deeper into the political mire because President Joe Biden chose to include it in a much broader request that includes the next tranche of arms and ammunition for Ukraine. Johnson’s conference opposes some aspects of the ask for funding north of $100 billion. And while the speaker is moving an Israel bill on its own, the Senate may insert Ukraine aid and send it back to the House, further delaying the dispatch of US assistance to Israel amid its war with Hamas.
The debate is revealing multiple subplots in national politics a year out from the next election. And it is painting exactly the kind of picture of American dysfunction that adversaries like China and…
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