Speaker Johnson unveils $14.3 billion Israel aid bill paid for with cuts to IRS

House Republicans, led by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), introduced the chamber’s $14.3 billion Israel aid bill on Monday, which will be paid for in full by offsets in spending, but passing the legislation will be difficult.

Contrary to President Joe Biden’s $106 billion supplemental request, which would have provided aid to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and the southern border in the same bill, Johnson split Israel’s aid off and is hoping to fund it on its own.

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“There are lots of things going on around the world that we have to address, and we will, but right now, what’s happening in Israel takes the immediate attention, and I think we’ve got to separate that and get it through. I believe there’ll be bipartisan support for that, and I’m going to push very hard for it,” Johnson said on Fox News over the weekend.

Israel’s need for aid comes amid Hamas, a Palestinian terrorist group, invading in early October.

The House has been unable to act and fund Israel’s defense against the invasion due to its lack of a speaker over the previous three weeks. But Johnson, having just been elected speaker on Wednesday of last week, looks to make this his second major piece of legislation to pass.

The cost of the bill will also be offset by cutting Biden’s marquee legislation, the Inflation Reduction Act, by rescinding $14.3 billion in funding from the Internal Revenue Service. This is something Democrats have boasted about but conservatives have opposed.

The cuts included in the bill could help win over conservatives who have said they do not believe they should fund a foreign country’s war while America is in debt and dealing with the southern border crisis.

“I am tired of this stuff. I do not believe we should write another blank check to anyone, including ourselves. We must pay for it. And the American people must see that it’s going to cause something if we’re going to give another $14 billion to Israel. So, I’m for it. But it should be paid for. And it should be paid for with real money, not budgetary gimmicks,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said on a radio show Monday.

However, while the IRS cuts will help win over some conservatives, its passage is still up in the air because some hard-line conservative members, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY), have publicly said they will vote against the bill.

And voting on Israel as a stand-alone bill mixed with the cuts makes it likely that most, if not all, Democrats will vote against the bill.

The House can vote on the legislation as early as Thursday.

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If it were to pass the House, it faces a tough road in the Senate because several Republicans in the upper chamber are Ukraine hawks and support Biden’s supplemental request.

On Tuesday, the Senate is set to hold a hearing on the Biden administration’s request, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin testifying before the Senate Appropriations Committee.