Iran's attack on Israel prompted immediate reactions from US lawmakers, as well as the White House. Following the massive and combined bombardment of the Islamist regime, both Republicans and Democrats called urgent congressional action on legislation for an aid package for Israel.
The majority leader in the House of Representatives, Steve Scalise, was one of the first voices to announce a change in the assembly calendar with the aim of bringing the urgent aid package to the floor this week. His call was joined by the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, who announced that he would work to gather sufficient consensus around the resolution.
I spoke with @POTUS, @LeaderMcConnell, @SpeakerJohnson, @RepJeffries
The US commitment to Israel’s security is ironclad
We need to help Israel stay strong against Iran
To @SpeakerJohnson—The best way is for the House to pass the bipartisan, Senate-passed national security bill
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) April 14, 2024
These changes to the Congressional calendar come after a joint call that brought together President Joe Biden with Chuck Schummer, Democratic Senatorial Majority Leader; speaker Johnson; Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnel and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Both Democrats and Republicans seem to agree on the urgency necessary for the approval of this aid package.
Challenge for Johnson
It would be Johnson's third attempt to see an aid package for Israel pass through Congress. In November 2023, a bipartisan vote passed a resolution that included more than $14 million in aid for Israel. However, the proposal failed in the Senate. In February, a second attempt that included $17.6 million failed again.
SPEAKER JOHNSON: “What’s important right now is that WE STAND WITH ISRAEL… It’s never been more important.”🇮🇱 pic.twitter.com/GwYOWlHlmD
— NRCC (@NRCC) April 14, 2024
In previous packages, several amendments were added to the resolutions. This included international aid for Taiwan and Ukraine. The latter were the cause of debate among various sectors of the Republican Party. What at the moment seems to remain up in the air is whether this new resolution expected this week will once again consider Ukraine as a recipient of international aid.
Neither Scalise, who spoke on Saturday, nor Johnson, who spoke on Sunday, could confirm this. The Republican representative from Ohio and chairman of the Intelligence Committee, Mike Turner, did say to NBC that he hopes Ukraine will be included in the resolution and that he believes it will be approved.
