House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is considering a clean stand-alone Israel aid bill as House Republicans rebuke comments from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calling for new elections in Israel.
The speaker’s office confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Johnson is weighing bringing the bill under the normal process after it failed to pass under suspension on Feb. 6. The legislation, which failed 250-180, would have provided $17.6 billion in aid to the Jewish state as it continues its war against Hamas.
Top House Republican’s consideration of bringing an aid package to the floor comes shortly after Schumer said on Thursday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost his way” and called for new elections to replace him.
However, due to Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House, Johnson would need to pass a rule to bring the bill to the floor and could lose no more than two Republican votes — a task that has proven difficult for the GOP numerous times this Congress.
Johnson said in an interview with Politico that he expects foreign aid will come up in the House’s suspension calendar, meaning it would need a two-thirds majority to pass and all but assuring that the bill would require Democratic support.
“The urgent situation in Israel was made even more so by Leader Schumer’s reckless comments today,” Taylor Hauslee, spokesman for Johnson, told the Washington Examiner. “This has prompted House Republicans to further consider all available options to support our ally Israel in its time of need.”
Schumer called for new elections in Israel during a floor speech on Thursday, with the Senate Majority leader saying that Netanyahu has been “too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”
“The United States cannot dictate the outcome of an election, nor should we try,” Schumer said, but he added he believes the Israeli public “understands better than anybody that Israel cannot hope to succeed as a pariah opposed by the rest of the world.”
Johnson and other House and Senate Republicans quickly blasted Schumer’s comments at the GOP retreat in West Virginia.
“This is not only highly inappropriate, it’s just plain wrong for an American leader to play such a divisive role in Israeli politics while our closest ally in the region is an existential battle for its very survival,” Johnson told reporters on Thursday.
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House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) also called on Schumer to push forward with a Republican-led stand-alone bill to provide funds to Israel that passed the House last year but has been stalled in the Senate since then.
“We passed a bill to give Israel the aid that they need, and Sen. Schumer won’t bring that bill to the Senate floor,” Scalise said. “We’re going to continue to stand with Israel and their right to defend themselves against terrorists like Hamas.”