US House of Representatives passes Republican's Israel-only aid bill

The Star

The US House of Representatives on Thursday (Nov 2) passed a Republican plan to provide US$14.3bil in aid to Israel and cut funding of the Internal Revenue Service, despite Democrats' insistence it has no future in the Senate and the White House's promise of a veto.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

Transcript

00:00 On this vote, the yeas are 226, the nays are 196. The bill is passed.

00:08 The U.S. House passed a bill to provide almost $15 billion in aid to Israel on Thursday,

00:15 a Republican-initiated proposal that may not survive in the Democrat-led Senate.

00:21 The funding would include $4 billion for Israel's defense systems to counter short-range rocket threats.

00:28 It's the first major legislative action under new Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson.

00:34 However, it may be doomed to falter when it heads to the next chamber of Congress

00:39 because the bill combines aid for Israel with a cut to the tax-collecting IRS and leaves out funding for Ukraine.

00:47 President Joe Biden has promised a veto should it make it through Congress.

00:52 Instead, he has asked lawmakers to approve a broader emergency spending package that includes funding for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan.

01:01 The Senate's majority leader, Chuck Schumer, also said he would not bring the House bill up for a vote.

01:07 Meanwhile, the IRS has been given extra cash to ramp up services under a new law Biden signed last year.

01:14 That move was opposed by many Republicans.

01:17 And they said slashing the agency's budget is essential to offset the cost of the military aid to Israel.

01:24 The U.S. already gives Tel Aviv almost $4 billion per year in military assistance under a 10-year plan that began in 2016.

01:34 The standoff between the two chambers could mean it will be weeks before Congress approves any emergency spending plan.

01:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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