Staff Reports
President Joe Biden caused a stir on Monday when he said he would veto the House's separate aid bill for Israel. A lot of Republicans are very angry about this move because they back Israel and think President Biden is using questionable tactics.
The White House is strongly against the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act. This has made things more tense because the Senate's bill to fund Israel includes steps to secure the southern border, help for Ukraine, and humanitarian aid for Gaza. House Republicans, along with more and more GOP senators and the always-brave Donald Trump, have strongly rejected the bill that was negotiated in the Senate. In answer, the White House said that the Republicans were doing "political games" before the 2024 election.
Biden vows to veto House's stand-alone Israel aid bill – Washington Examiner https://t.co/RLZVogJKHP
— Melanie (@MellieMAGA) February 6, 2024
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is going to take a big step by calling for a separate vote on aid to Israel this week. This is a big change from last week, when the House passed a $14.3 billion aid bill to Israel. Some cuts to the IRS's budget were in this bill, which made Senate Democrats very angry.
The larger $118 billion supplemental bill was deemed "dead on arrival" by the House GOP, which is run by Speaker Johnson. Instead, they are rallying behind their own bill, which would help Israel even more in its current war with Hamas.
The fight isn't over yet, though. Republicans are very angry about a part of President Biden's border bill because they think it would let 5,000 illegal immigrants into the country every day. A well-known Republican diplomat, Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), shot down these claims, telling his fellow Republicans to read the bill for themselves instead of believing false information going around online.
Former President Donald Trump has also joined the fight. He is telling Republicans not to fall for what he calls a "highly sophisticated trap" set by the Democrats. He said that the border bill was just a political stunt to put the blame for things getting worse at the border on Republicans.
The political drama caused by President Biden's actions has set the stage for a fight between Republicans and the White House, with Israel stuck in the middle. This is an amazing show of political wrangling and bluffing, and it looks like it will only get worse before the important elections in 2024.
