Senate leaders said Tuesday they were ready for the White House to send a request for supplemental aid to Israel and possibly Ukraine later this week, as the House of Representatives is preoccupied with electing a new president.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) expressed support for the expected spending, which will face an uncertain path to passage in the controlled House. by the Republicans.
White House officials are currently considering a price tag of around $100 billion for Israel, Ukraine, Indo-Pacific nations like Taiwan and border security, Bloomberg reported.
“We would like to see the supplemental package passed as quickly as possible, because the needs are great in both Israel and Ukraine,” said Schumer, who led a bipartisan delegation to Israel over the weekend.
“The administration is supposed to send us one later this week. “I am working with Leader McConnell to get it done as soon as possible.”
“We anticipate the administration will send a supplement dealing with Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan,” McConnell added, “and Republicans will want something serious about the border.
Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer accompany Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his trip to DC last month.Shutterstock
“We’ll take a look at the package when it’s shipped. Make suggestions to improve it if necessary. But clearly, the world has changed dramatically in the last 10 days.”
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McConnell, 81, also stressed that “all of us are truly heartbroken and disgusted by the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israel.”
A few Senate Republicans, such as JD Vance of Ohio, have demanded that assistance to Israel be considered separate from funding to Ukraine.
Rockets fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza City are intercepted by the Israeli Iron Dome missile defense system. AFP via Getty Images
But the real problem is in the House of Representatives, where Republicans such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) have vehemently opposed additional aid to the Kiev government.
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As a rule, the House cannot move on to other business until a speaker is elected to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) following his Oct. 3 impeachment.
“You cover the House. I have my hands full here in the Senate,” McConnell told reporters when asked about the state of the House, where a vote to elevate Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) failed Tuesday afternoon.
Palestinian militants from Gaza fire a volley of rockets as an Israeli missile is launched from the Iron Dome missile defense system. AFP via Getty Images
“The House is kind of a disaster,” Schumer lamented. “And so we think the best thing to do is pass a big, strong supplemental amendment with strong bipartisan support and that can force the House to act.”
“There are no words, there are no words for the horror that we saw,” Schumer added when asked about his trip to Israel, saying that the Jewish state’s ambassador to China had told him “about a kibbutz where they detained 100 people… “They herded them.” to the recreation room, from 80 years to three months. “They machine-gunned them all.”
The worst attack on Israel in 50 years: how we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip more than three decades after seizing the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: The terrorist group Hamas wins the Palestinian legislative elections.
2007: Hamas takes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launches a military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fire rockets at the city of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches largest attack on Israel in 50 years.
More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, more than 4,200 wounded and at least 100 taken hostage, with the death toll expected to rise after Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of militants into Israeli cities. .
Hamas terrorists were seen taking women hostage and parading them down the street in gruesome videos.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “We are at war” and promised that Hamas would pay “a price it has never known.”
Gaza health officials report that at least 3,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 12,500 injured.
“It reminded me of what happened to my family when the Nazis came to Ukraine,” he continued. “They asked my great-grandmother to put her entire family on the porch. She did it, 35 people from 88 to three months old, and they machine-gunned them all.
A residential building destroyed by bombing amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.REUTERS
“Many of us understand this and it is etched in our memories,” Schumer continued. “So, it was a terrible, horrible day.”
The 72-year-old also emphasized that the United States should “remind Israel that it must be humanitarian, that it must obey the rules of war, and that it must minimize civilian casualties among Palestinians.”
At one point, McConnell publicly criticized former President Donald Trump for describing the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as “very smart” and criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a campaign rally in Florida last week.
Both Senate leaders have publicly supported additional aid to war-torn Ukraine.REUTERS
“I don’t agree with him. “Hezbollah is a terrorist organization like Hamas, funded by the same source: Iran,” McConnell said. “And Prime Minister Netanyahu is one of the great leaders of modern times.”
The Trump campaign had defended his comments, arguing that he “was clearly pointing out how incompetent Biden and his administration were in telegraphing to terrorists an area that is susceptible to attack” and that “smart does not equal good.”
Biden was due to leave the White House for Israel sometime on Tuesday, and his arrival was scheduled for early Wednesday morning.
Members of the Jewish community gather for a vigil on October 9 when war broke out in Israel.Getty Images
The October 7 terrorist attack on southern Israel by Hamas has killed more than 1,300 people, including at least 30 Americans. Another 13 American citizens are missing and some are being held hostage in the Gaza Strip.
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