Republicans seek tools to force Biden to send weapons to Israel
By
Ramsey Touchberry
May 9, 2024 6:28 pm
.
Senate Republicans are in search of legislative tools to force President Joe Biden to relinquish his threat of withholding U.S. military aid to Israel amid heightened tensions with the ally over its war in Gaza.
Biden is vowing to halt a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs in an effort to influence Israel not to launch a new military offensive in Rafah over concerns about more civilian casualties in the densely populated Gaza city home to more than 1 million civilians and refugees.
“We can’t let this pass without some pushback,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
He is leading the charge among GOP senators, whose frustration over Biden’s handling of the foreign policy situation that they say undermines Congress pans across the party’s ideological spectrum from moderates to conservatives.
“The [administration] did not inform the Appropriations Committee,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), a centrist senator who is the ranking member of the panel, said. “They did not inform the Foreign Relations Committee. They did not inform the Armed Relations Committee. It was a unilateral decision.”
Biden’s move comes after Congress approved a foreign aid package in April that included fresh military aid for Israel and humanitarian relief for Gazans that capped off months of delay and bitter political feuds.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was incremental in garnering GOP support for the legislation.
“The president of the United States will be forced to choose between his supposedly ‘ironclad’ commitment to an ally under attack and the will of his leftist political base,” McConnell said. “And because they bet that the president would choose the latter, well, it would seem that Hamas bet correctly.”
more
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/senate/2998520/republicans-seek-enforcement-biden-israel-aid-rafah/
