The United States House of Representatives has rejected a Republican-led bill to provide $17.6bn in assistance to Israel as a wider bipartisan bill that would also help Ukraine and ensure more money for border security looked to be in trouble as well.
The Tuesday vote on the Israel bill, which needed a two-thirds majority to advance, was largely along party lines.
Aid for Israel – one of the largest recipients of US foreign aid – has traditionally received strong bipartisan support. However, the bill’s opponents said it was a Republican ploy to distract from their opposition to the $118bn Senate bill combining an overhaul of US immigration policy and new funding for border security – measures Republicans had demanded – with billions of dollars in emergency aid for Ukraine, Israel and partners in the Asia Pacific.
House Democratic leaders called the Israel bill a “nakedly obvious and cynical attempt” to undermine the larger package, hammered out at the weekend after months of negotiations by a bipartisan group of senators.
Support for that bill has dwindled among Republicans with former President Donald Trump – who is likely to be the Republican candidate for November’s presidential election – pressuring them to avoid handing President Joe Biden, his probable Democrat rival, a legislative victory ahead of the poll.
