The House may finally have a new Speaker, but the congressional impasse over funding for foreign aid hasn’t moved an inch. On Monday, Mike Johnson, the newly elected Republican Speaker, introduced a controversial bill that would both uncouple Israel and Ukraine funding and pull $14.3 billion in aid for Israel from the IRS’s budget. Senate Democrats, in response, predictably shot down Johnson’s belt-tightening scheme.
“It’s a poison pill,” said Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, likewise called the proposal “horrifying,” adding, “The idea that somehow you would basically condition support for Israel on giveaways to wealthy tax cheats takes your breath away.”
The White House has painted Johnson’s bill as a “nonstarter” and described it as an attempt to play politics with US national security. “Demanding offsets for meeting core national security needs of the United States—like supporting Israel and defending Ukraine from atrocities and Russian imperialism—would be a break with the normal, bipartisan process and could have devastating implications for our safety and alliances in the years ahead,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a Monday statement.
Senate Democrats previously had issues with getting Ukraine funding through the House toward the end of Kevin McCarthy’s nine-month tenure as Speaker. But that was before military aid to Israel became a top priority following Hamas’s October 7 attack. Those disputes have only worsened under Johnson: House Republicans now hope to chip away at the nearly $80 billion in additional funding the IRS received last year from the Inflation Reduction Act, despite having already cut $21.4 billion from the agency’s budget during the debt ceiling crunch in May.
“I understand their priority is to bulk up the IRS,” Johnson told Fox News on Monday. “But I think if you put this to the American people and they weigh the two needs, I think they’re going to say standing with Israel and protecting the innocent over there is in our national interest and is a more immediate need than IRS agents.”
The House GOP bill directly counters the $105 billion emergency funding package requested by the Biden administration. It would provide $61.4 billion for Ukraine, $14.3 billion for Israel, $7.4 billion for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, and $13.6 billion for the US-Mexico border.
Unlike their colleagues in the House, top Senate Republicans, including Mitch McConnell, have been largely supportive of Biden’s $105 billion package. Of course, opposing McConnell is likely an early priority for Johnson. He won the Speakership contest by selling himself as a pro-Trump, antiestablishment outsider. He is now apparently trying to live up to that reputation, even if it means delaying the funding for Israel that nearly every lawmaker in Washington is clamoring for.