Republican Senator Roger Marshall said: "Time is of the essence
and it's imperative that the Senate not delay delivering this
crucial aid to Israel another day," he said.
Democrats objected, 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 Internal Revenue Service, a
favorite target for Republicans, rather than writing a
bipartisan bill.
The House bill would provide $14.3 billion for Israel as it
responds to a deadly Oct. 7 attack by Islamist Hamas militants,
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 U.S. stocks.
"Our allies in Ukraine can no more afford a delay than our
allies in Israel," said Senator Patty Murray, who chairs the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
The House vote was largely along party lines. Democrats called
the proposed IRS cuts a politically motivated "poison pill" that
would increase the U.S. budget deficit by cutting back on tax
collection. They also said it was essential to continue to
support Ukraine.
To become law, legislation must pass the Democratic-controlled
Senate as well as the Republican-majority House, and be signed
into law by Biden, a Democrat. 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.
(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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