Senate Republicans are battling among themselves over what to do with Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) proposal to package $14.3 billion in aid for Israel with an equal cut to the IRS’s budget, and with no additional money for Ukraine.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his allies want the Israel and Ukraine money packaged together, which has led to accusations they are undermining Johnson from Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).
Democrats oppose the cuts to the IRS funding. They argue it will raise the deficit and that it politicizes aid to U.S. allies fighting enemy threats.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his allies want the Israel and Ukraine money packaged together, which has led to accusations they are undermining Johnson from Sens.
And both parties are battling amid rising tensions across the country that came to Congress on Tuesday in the form of protests during Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee.
McConnell acknowledged that Speaker Johnson’s preference to move the Israel money on its own is “an opinion many people have,” but he noted that the House bill would have to pass both chambers and get President Biden’s signature to become law.
Any changes to asylum policy would be a major sticking point, as the Biden administration and Senate Democrats say they would prefer to instead provide more resources to handle the surge of migrants at the border.
He said he was “deeply disappointed” by Johnson’s first major legislative action as Speaker and called the House Republican proposal to pay for military aid for Israel by cutting the IRS’s budget a non-starter.
Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has led calls in the Senate for Israel to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza, warning on the floor last week that “revenge … is not a useful policy.”
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