Full List of Republicans Opposed to Israel Aid Packages

War
Post At: Dec 28/2023 11:56AM

Republican representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and Thomas Massie of Kentucky have announced they will oppose new U.S. aid to Israel, even if the measure comes as a standalone separate from a request for additional assistance for Ukraine—as House Republicans are now proposing.

On October 20, President Joe Biden submitted a request of $106 billion to Congress for military and humanitarian aid for both Israel and Ukraine, as well as humanitarian assistance for Gaza. The sum includes $61.4 billion for Ukraine, $14.3 billion for Israel and $9.15 billion for humanitarian assistance for both countries and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

But the president's request faces an uphill battle in Congress, where many Republicans have grown increasingly hostile to approving further aid for Ukraine and some are now looking at the appeal to send funds to Israel with equal discontent.

On Monday, House Republicans presented a plan to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel by cutting funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), separating the issue from that of further assistance to Ukraine. The stand-alone measure is expected to be voted on in the House this week.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) speaks as Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) listens during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on November 17, 2022 in Washington, DC. Both Republicans said they won't for any request for aid for Israel. Alex Wong/Getty Images

But Greene and Massie have made clear they will oppose any new funding for either Israel or Ukraine.

"I will be voting NO on all funding packages for the Ukraine war (as I have from the beginning) and now the Israel war," Greene wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday.

"We have had over 10 MILLION people illegally cross our border since Biden took office and we are over $33 TRILLION dollars in debt with many major problems afflicting Americans," she continued. "The United States government needs to focus on spending American's hard earned tax dollars on our own country and needs to serve the American people NOT the rest of the world."

🚨🚨🚨
I will be voting NO on all funding packages for the Ukraine war (as I have from the beginning) and now the Israel war.

We have had over 10 MILLION people illegally cross our border since Biden took office and we are over $33 TRILLION dollars in debt with many major…

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) October 29, 2023

Greene, a MAGA loyalist, said she voted to condemn both Russia's invasion of Ukraine and Hamas' unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7 but she will continue voting "no" on spending "American's hard earned tax dollars to fund wars defending foreign country's borders."

She added that Israel and Ukraine were in very different situations, as she said that Ukraine was dependent on U.S. aid to continue its fight against Russia while Israel was a "strong thriving independent nation that prides itself on defending their own people."

"This week the House will vote on $14.5 billion foreign aid package for Israel, in addition to the $3.8 billion that already passed. I will be a NO vote," Massie wrote on X. "Less than 1/3 of the 49,000 people who responded to my poll today support this additional funding. We simply can't afford it."

Massie also made clear he would vote against aid for Ukraine too. Asked by an X user if he supported funding for Ukraine, but not Israel, Massie replied: "What's so hard for you to understand, I'm not for funding any of it."

This week the House will vote on $14.5 billion foreign aid package for Israel, in addition to the $3.8 billion that already passed. I will be a NO vote. Less than 1/3 of the 49,000 people who responded to my poll today support this additional funding. We simply can’t afford it. pic.twitter.com/vxa6bY1iXm

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) October 30, 2023

While Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina—who was among the eight Republican lawmakers who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy from the House speakership earlier this month—didn't say how she'll vote, she echoed Greene's and Massie's words, commenting on a Tucker Carlson post about foreign aid on X: "We are $33T in debt and our border isn't secure."

Several Republicans have expressed a more nuanced position, saying they want the request for aid for Israel separated from the issue of additional funding for Ukraine.

Rep. Mike Johnson, the newly elected House speaker, who has previously voted against more aid to Ukraine, has said he's in favor of handling the request for aid to Israel and Ukraine separately.

GOP senators J.D. Vance, Mike Lee, Roger Marshall, and Ted Cruz sponsored a stand-alone bill that would send funds to Israel but not to Ukraine, saying that the measure will prevent the money from getting blocked by Congress amid the expected opposition.

"My colleagues and I firmly believe that any aid to Israel should not be used as leverage to send tens of billions of dollars to Ukraine," Marshall said, as quoted by The Wall Street Journal. Vance, Lee and Marshall have previously opposed aid to Ukraine, while Cruz had supported it.

Senators Eric Schmitt and Ron Johnson also spoke in favor of passing an assistance package to Israel separately from military aid to Ukraine. "We should pass the support for Israel first," Johnson told his fellow Republicans in the Senate, as quoted by The Hill. "We just delude ourselves thinking we can pass something here in the Senate that is going to fly through the House. It won't. Let's get whatever Israel needs for Israel and then worry about the other things."

"They should definitely be separate questions," Rep. Matt Gaetz told NBC News. "We have a lot of members who want to vote for Ukraine funding. So that may be a vote that they're able to bring to bear through regular order."

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, who has previously supported aid for Ukraine and continues to do so, wants to separate the two requests to speed up assistance to Israel. "I very much want them to be separate," she said, as quoted by NBC News. "There's a tremendous need and desire to move quickly on Israel. So I think that it's important that we move forward with Israel—the sooner the better."

While not every Republicans has publicly declared how they'll vote on the requests for aid, this is what we know as of Tuesday morning.

These Republicans have announced they oppose any request for aid to Israel:

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia
Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky

These Republicans have said they oppose a combined request for aid to Israel and Ukraine:

Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana
Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska
Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida
Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio
Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah
Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas
Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin
Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming
Sen. Mike Braun of Indiana

Disclaimer: The copyright of this article belongs to the original author. Reposting this article is solely for the purpose of information dissemination and does not constitute any investment advice. If there is any infringement, please contact us immediately. We will make corrections or deletions as necessary. Thank you.