House passes GOP bill to undo Biden’s weapons freeze to Israel
by Mychael Schnell and Mike Lillis - 05/16/24 5:04 PM ET
The House on Thursday approved a bill to reverse President Biden’s pause on some weapons shipments to Israel, a formal admonishment of the administration’s approach to the war in the Middle East that narrowly divided Democrats, who have struggled to unify as the controversial conflict drags on.
The bill — which cleared the chamber in a 224-187 vote — is expected to go nowhere in the Democratic-controlled Senate, where party leaders are vowing not to consider it at all. Still, the proposal acted to unite House Republicans — who have been fiercely divided over other issues, like government funding and aid to Ukraine — while splintering a handful of pro-Israel Democrats away from Biden and other party leaders, who had urged their troops to rally behind the president by opposing the measure.
Most did just that, and the list included a number of prominent Jewish Democrats who have sided with Republicans on other controversial bills related to Israel in recent months. Reps. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), for example, had condemned Biden’s weapons hold but voted against the legislation Thursday, hammering the GOP-led proposal as a setback to Israel’s defense in the region and standing in the world.
But Republican leaders, nonetheless, viewed the legislation as essential to showcase their displeasure with Biden’s handling of the war and put Democrats on the record as the high-profile conflict emerges as a key weak spot for the president’s re-election bid.
“We want the president to hear this loud and clear: He said just not long ago that we had to have ironclad support for Israel. Well, that’s what he previously proclaimed, but his actions are doing exactly the opposite,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said Thursday. “This is a catastrophic decision with global implications. It is obviously being done as a political calculation. And we cannot let this stand.”
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https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4669080-house-passes-bill-undo-bidens-weapons-freeze-to-israel/
