Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized the House’s aid package for Israel, which passed a floor vote on Thursday, and said the Senate would pass their own aid package.
The proposed aid package from the Senate will reportedly include aid for Israel along with aid for the Gaza Strip and Ukraine, according to Schumer.
The Senate Majority Leader announced the upcoming legislation in a Thursday X post.
“Let me be clear: The Senate will not take up the House GOP’s deeply flawed proposal,” Schumer wrote. “Instead, we will work on our own bipartisan emergency aid package that includes funding for aid to Israel, Ukraine, humanitarian aid including for Gaza, and competition with the Chinese Government.”
Let me be clear: The Senate will not take up the House GOP's deeply flawed proposal
Instead we will work on our own bipartisan emergency aid package that includes funding for aid to Israel, Ukraine, humanitarian aid including for Gaza, and competition with the Chinese Government
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 2, 2023
The House passed a standalone $14.3 billion aid package for Israel on Thursday. The bill reallocates funds set aside by the Biden administration to expand the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
President Biden has indicated he will veto the House’s bill because it did not include aid for Ukraine along with other aid for Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, humanitarian assistance, and border security.
“We are in dire straits as a nation,” said newly elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson during a Thursday press conference. “We want to protect and help and assist our friend Israel, but we have to keep our own house in order as well.”
Johnson stressed he has made it “very clear” to the Biden administration and the Senate that the House will “do this in a responsible manner.”
Schumer previously criticized the House’s standalone aid package on Wednesday.
“The House GOP released an unserious package that politicizes aid to Israel, balloons the federal deficit by billions, and fails to address the national security threats America faces around the globe,” said the Senate Majority Leader.
The House GOP released an unserious package that politicizes aid to Israel, balloons the federal deficit by billions, and fails to address the national security threats America faces around the globe.
Their proposal is wasting precious time.
It is not going to go anywhere.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) November 1, 2023
“Their proposal is wasting precious time,” he added. “It is not going to go anywhere.”
Johnson fired back at Schumer’s comment telling reporters, “Only in Washington when you cut spending do they call it an increase in the deficit.”
Johnson secured Speakership last week with a unanimous 220 votes from House Republicans after nearly a month of infighting within the Conference following the removal of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy in early October.
