US Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked a Republican effort to win quick approval for a bill providing emergency aid to Israel, Reuters reports.
The bill passed the House of Representatives last week, but Democrats are opposed to it due to the fact that it provides no assistance for Ukraine's war against Russia.
Under the bill brought by House Republicans, the funding for the aid to Israel will be reallocated from money that was meant for the IRS in President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the House GOP bill a “deeply flawed proposal” that the Senate will not take it up.
Democrats are stressing the importance of providing aid to Ukraine as well as Israel, in addition to humanitarian aid, border security funding and money to push back against China in the Indo-Pacific that was in a $106 billion funding request President Joe Biden sent to Congress last month.
They also accused House Republicans of playing politics with the crisis in Israel, delaying aid for the Jewish State by tying support to cutting funding for the IRS.
The House bill would provide $14.3 billion for Israel as it responds to a deadly Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, but also cut the same amount of money from the IRS. The funds would include $4 billion for procurement of Israel's Iron Dome and David's Sling defense systems to counter short-range rocket threats as well as some transfers of equipment from US stocks.
To become law, legislation must pass the Democratic-controlled Senate as well as the Republican-majority House, and be signed into law by Biden. The White House had said Biden would veto the House bill.
Senate leaders are writing their own supplemental funding bill and hope to introduce it as soon as this week.