On Tuesday, U.S. Senate Democrats blocked a Republican attempt to swiftly approve a bill that would offer emergency assistance to Israel, a bill that had previously passed the House of

Representatives. However, this bill did not include aid for Ukraine in its struggle against Russia.

Republican Senator Roger Marshall emphasized the urgency of delivering critical aid to Israel without further delay, stating, "Time is of the essence, and it's imperative that the Senate not delay delivering this crucial aid to Israel another day."

The Democrats raised objections, underlining the importance of providing assistance to both Ukraine and Israel, in addition to humanitarian aid, border security funding, and resources to address challenges posed by China in the Indo-Pacific. These elements were included in a $106 billion funding request that President Joe Biden submitted to Congress last month.

They also accused House Republicans of politicizing the Israel crisis by tying support for the Jewish State to cuts in funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a move that many Republicans favor, instead of pursuing a bipartisan bill.

The House bill would allocate $14.3 billion for Israel in response to a deadly attack by Islamist Hamas militants on October 7. However, the bill proposed to cut an equivalent amount of funding from the IRS. This financial support includes $4 billion for the procurement of Israel's Iron Dome and David's Sling defense systems, designed to counter short-range rocket threats, as well as certain equipment transfers from U.S. stocks.

Senator Patty Murray, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, remarked, "Our allies in Ukraine can no more afford a delay than our allies in Israel."

The House vote on this matter primarily followed party lines. Democrats referred to the proposed IRS cuts as a politically motivated "poison pill" that would worsen the U.S. budget deficit by reducing tax collection. They also stressed the importance of continuing to support Ukraine.

To become law, any legislation must pass both the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-majority House before being signed into law by President Biden, a Democrat. The White House had previously indicated that Biden would veto the House bill. Senate leaders are now working on their own supplementary funding bill and hope to introduce it as soon as this week. Photo by United States Senate, Wikimedia commons.