The White House on Monday said it opposes passing a standalone bill to provide aid for Israel, in the wake of Iran’s drone and missile attack on Saturday, urging Congress to support the larger pending supplemental package that also includes assistance for Ukraine and Taiwan.
“We are opposed to a standalone bill that would just work on Israel [aid], as we’ve seen proposed,” John Kirby, National Security Council spokesman, said during a White House press briefing on Monday.
House Republicans are set to meet Monday evening to discuss plans for considering Israel aid, with the Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) having said the lower chamber is aiming for a vote this week and that it may include a standalone bill as an option.
The Senate in February passed its $95.3 billion supplemental bill, which includes $14.1 billion in security assistance for Israel as well as $60 billion to continue supporting Ukraine, while Johnson has yet to bring it up in the House (Defense Daily, Feb. 13).
A standalone $17.6 billion Israel aid bill Johnson proposed in February failed to garner enough support in the House, receiving pushback from Freedom Caucus members for its lack of offsetting costs with IRS cuts and Democrats who pushed for taking up the Biden administration’s larger supplemental request (Defense Daily, Feb. 7).
“I’ll let the Speaker speak to whatever his plans might be,” Kirby told reporters on Monday. “You’ve got two good friends here, Israel and Ukraine, both [going through] two very different fights, sure, but [having] active fights for their sovereignty and their safety and security. And time is not on anyone’s side here, in either case.”
“The best way to get that aid into the hands of the [Israel Defense Forces] and into the hands of the Ukrainian soldiers is to pass that bipartisan bill that the Senate passed,” Kirby said, adding the administration wants Congress to “move quickly” on the supplemental.
The Senate’s supplemental bill includes $4 billion for Israel’s procurement of Iron Dome air defense system and David’s Sling short-range ballistic missile defense capabilities, $1.2 billion for Israel’s Iron Beam laser-based defense system and $3.5 billion in Foreign Military Financing funds to purchase U.S.-made defense equipment.
Army Gen. Christopher Cavoli, commander of U.S. European Command/NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, told lawmakers last week Ukraine is set to run out of artillery rounds and air defense interceptors “in fairly short order,” and that he believes Kyiv “will not be able to prevail” against Russia without continued U.S. support (Defense Daily, April 10).