Senate Democrats block stand-alone Israel aid bill 

Senate Democrats on Tuesday blocked an effort by Republicans to force the Upper Chamber to consider a stand-alone Israel aid bill passed by the House earlier this month. 

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) asked for unanimous consent to pass the House-approved legislation that would provide Israel with $14.3 billion for its war against Hamas and offset the spending by cutting Internal Revenue Service funding earmarked in President Biden’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act. 

The legislation, backed by 12 House Democrats on Nov. 2, was blocked by a handful of Senate Democrats.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) argued that funding for Ukraine and humanitarian assistance must be included in any Israel package before it reaches the president’s desk. 

“Once again, I had to block a Senate Republican’s attempt to pit aid for Israel against support for Ukraine and humanitarian assistance,” Murray wrote in an X post. “I’ve said this before & I’ll say it again: we cannot just do half our job. It’s not just wrong — it’s dangerous and it’s naïve.”

Murray, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, also made her argument on the Senate floor. 

“We cannot send the message to our allies or to the world that America only stands by some of its allies — that our word is only good some of the time,” Murray said. 

Marshall and other Senate Republicans slammed the move. 

“Time is of the essence right now. There is a powder keg in Israel that’s going off. There could easily be three battlefronts in the very, very near future. And that’s why we need to send a loud and clear message to Hamas, to Iran, to all their proxies, that we do not tolerate terrorism we do not tolerate crimes against humanity,” Marshall said after his effort was blocked.

“This is now the second hour I’ve spent on the floor debating my friends from across the aisle and they spend three-fourths of their time telling us why we should fund Ukraine.”

“They seem to be allergic to the word ‘Israel,’” he added. 

Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), JD Vance (R-Ohio), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Marshall introduced the Senate version of the House bill last month, after Biden, 80, made an emergency request for some $105 billion in spending, including $61 billion for Ukraine.  

“What I find interesting about the folks who are here today is they represent a cross-section of opinion on the Ukraine question,” Vance said Tuesday. “Even Sen. [Eric] Schmitt and Sen. Lee, as much as we agree, we don’t agree on every single permutation of how we address the Ukraine situation. What we do all agree on, though, is that the American people deserve a separate debate.”

An attempt to move the bill through the Senate last week was also stymied by Democrats. 

“Democrats have blocked our efforts to get aid to Israel for 2 weeks. Enough is enough,” Marshall tweeted moments before trying to push the stand-alone measure through yet again on Tuesday.

The senator’s second effort of the day failed after the Senate voted 51-48 in favor of the motion put forward by Murray to table the bill.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby has said that the president would veto any package that only contains funding for Israel. 

The White House Office of Management and Budget has also slammed the House Israel bill and has asserted that Biden would veto the legislation.