House Republicans Offer Standalone Israeli Aid Bill—With a BIG Catch

After nearly a month of inactivity due to lack of leadership, House Republicans under newly-anointed Speaker Mike Johnson are proposing an Israeli aid bill which would strip the IRS of $14.3 billion.

It’s almost certainly a doomed effort, if not an outright poisoned pill cynically designed to provoke a fight with President Biden and Democrats in both chambers.

The bill is also the latest salvo from Republicans who have long taken aim at the Internal Revenue Service, which received robust funding from Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

The law increased IRS funding by approximately $80 billion over a ten year period. Though experts argued the expanded budget was necessary to enhance the agency’s ability to crack down on wealthy tax cheats, the GOP claimed it was an attempt by the President to squeeze more money out of lower and middle class American families.

Republicans were able to successfully claw back approximately $10 billion of that increased funding during negotiations between the President and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Weeks ago, the President proposed a comprehensive $105 billion bill for aid to Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan—as well as humanitarian assistance to Israeli, Palestinian, and Ukrainian civilians and border security.

$14.3 billion was earmarked by the President for Israel, mirroring the Republican standalone counterproposal.

The vote on the Republican bill is scheduled for Thursday. If the GOP can muster the vote—which isn’t guaranteed, given high profile opposition to foreign aid by some far-right Republicans—the bill will almost certainly die in the Senate.

Moreover, the President’s veto pen looms in the background.