Senate Republicans are battling among themselves over what to do with Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) proposal to package $14.3 billion in aid for Israel with an equal cut to the IRS’s budget, and with no additional money for Ukraine.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his allies want the Israel and Ukraine money packaged together, which has led to accusations they are undermining Johnson from Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.).

Democrats oppose the cuts to the IRS funding. They argue it will raise the deficit and that it politicizes aid to U.S. allies fighting enemy threats.

  • neanderthal@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Why does Israel need military aid? They are by far the superior force. Their response to it is worse than the US response to the 2001 attacks.

    I’m not against parking a carrier group off the coast to prevent some other country from taking advantage of the situation, but I don’t see why Israel needs US help.

    • Kit Sorens@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      We’ve been piping them 5% of the DOD budget for like 40 years, gave them iron domes, rifles, aircraft, and tracks and wheels, with ammunition for the lot. I think we’ve done our share as an Ally, and Israel’s actions can only reflect poorly on us when they use our tools to excercize manifest destiny.

    • Telorand@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      They don’t. But Mike believes Israel is Yahweh’s special little guy, because it says so in his anthology (which is totally true, because it says so in the anthology).

    • AllonzeeLV@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Because American Christians need the Jewish people to be in the right geographic location for Judgement day.

      Unfortunately, the our normally sociopathic oligarch class is still littered with people that sometimes make emotional decisions exclusively for their irrational superstitions that have no place in modern governments but still do because the ones with the gold make the rules.

      So when they aren’t starving/poisoning/exploiting you and your children for private profit, they’re killing foreign children in the name of supply side jeebus.

      I don’t care who anyone worships, I have great disdain, however, for the legions of people eager to make their worship other people’s problem.

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Notice how neither party objects to part (probably most) of that aid being military aid and as such using tax dollars to directly fund genocide?

    Says a LOT about the state of the political establishment, none of it good.

  • Rapidcreek@reddthat.com
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    1 year ago

    We’ve got three weeks to get this done. If we don’t, we’re telling Russia they can go have Ukraine.”

    — An unnamed Republican senator, quoted by Punchbowl News, on the stalled Ukraine aid package.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      An unnamed Republican senator

      Say what you will about his fascist politics, but getting on the ballot for a senatorial run let alone actually WINNING is pretty damn difficult to pull off when you don’t have a name! 😛

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    1 year ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and his allies want the Israel and Ukraine money packaged together, which has led to accusations they are undermining Johnson from Sens.

    And both parties are battling amid rising tensions across the country that came to Congress on Tuesday in the form of protests during Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s testimony before the Senate Appropriations Committee.

    McConnell acknowledged that Speaker Johnson’s preference to move the Israel money on its own is “an opinion many people have,” but he noted that the House bill would have to pass both chambers and get President Biden’s signature to become law.

    Any changes to asylum policy would be a major sticking point, as the Biden administration and Senate Democrats say they would prefer to instead provide more resources to handle the surge of migrants at the border.

    He said he was “deeply disappointed” by Johnson’s first major legislative action as Speaker and called the House Republican proposal to pay for military aid for Israel by cutting the IRS’s budget a non-starter.

    Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has led calls in the Senate for Israel to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza, warning on the floor last week that “revenge … is not a useful policy.”


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