The $14.5 billion in aid for Israel approved Thursday by the House is "waiting on the Senate to wake up and start doing some actual work," said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn.
The package, a muscular U.S. response to the war with Hamas but also a partisan approach by new Speaker Mike Johnson, poses a direct challenge to Democrats and President Joe Biden.
In a departure from norms, Johnson's package required that the emergency aid be offset with cuts in government spending elsewhere. That tack established the new House GOP's conservative leadership, but it also turned what would typically be a bipartisan vote into one dividing Democrats and Republicans. Biden has said he would veto the bill, which was approved 226-196, with 12 Democrats joining most Republicans on a largely party-line vote.
Democrats said that approach would only delay help for Israel. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has warned that the "stunningly unserious" bill has no chances in the Senate.
"Schumer won't have anything to do with it," Burchett told Newsmax's "Saturday Agenda."
"I would say he'll just let it sit there and he'll continuously blame Republicans and not come to the negotiating table at all," he added.
"And that last $100 billion-plus package had more to do with Ukraine and hiring bureaucrats to allow illegals into our country than anything anywhere near close to the aid that it provided for Israel."
The first substantial legislative effort in Congress to support Israel in the war falls far short of Biden's request for nearly $106 billion that would also back Ukraine as it fights Russia, along with U.S. efforts to counter China and address security at the border with Mexico.
The White House's veto warning said Johnson's approach "fails to meet the urgency of the moment" and would set a dangerous precedent by requiring emergency funds to come from cuts elsewhere.
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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