White House Says It Opposes Standalone Israel Military Aid Bill

 

Biden wants it to include funding for Ukraine and Taiwan

by Dave DeCamp April 15, 2024 at 3:52 pm ET CategoriesNewsTagsIsrael

The White House said on Monday that it opposes the idea of a bill that would give additional military aid to Israel without funding Ukraine and Taiwan.

“We are opposed to a standalone bill that would just work on Israel, as we’ve seen proposed. We would oppose a standalone bill, yes,” said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

Kirby’s comments came a day after House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said he would work on getting more military aid to Israel this week in the wake of Iran’s attack on Israeli territory, which came in retaliation for the bombing of Iran’s consulate in Damascus.

Back in February, the Senate passed a $95 billion foreign military aid bill that included $60 billion for the proxy war in Ukraine, $14 billion to support the Israeli slaughter of Palestinians, and a few billion for Taiwan and other spending in the Asia Pacific region. The bill hasn’t been brought to the House floor for a vote as a small group of Republicans who oppose Ukraine aid have significant sway over Johnson.

Johnson favors sending more aid to Ukraine and has been looking at alternative ways to get them money, including by providing loans or stealing frozen Russian central bank funds. He is under increasing pressure from the White House and hawks in both parties to bring the $95 billion bill to the floor for a vote.

“Time is not on anyone’s side here in either case, so they need to move quickly on this,” Kirby said. “And the best way to get that aid into the hands of the IDF and into the hands of the Ukrainian soldiers is to pass that bipartisan bill that the Senate passed.”

https://news.antiwar.com/2024/04/15/white-house-says-it-opposes-standalone-israel-military-aid-bill/