US House Passes Budget Bill for Israel-Only Support... Senate Calls It a "Serious Flaw"

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a budget bill unilaterally providing military support to Israel, which is at war with the Palestinian armed group Hamas. The bill, which excludes aid to Ukraine, faces strong opposition in the Senate, making its final approval uncertain.

On the 2nd (local time), according to the U.S. political news outlet The Hill, the House approved the budget bill providing $14.3 billion (approximately 19 trillion won) in military aid to Israel by a vote of 226 to 196. The House currently has a narrow majority held by the Republican Party with 221 seats, compared to the Democratic Party's 212 seats. The proposal and passage of this budget bill were led by Mike Johnson, the newly inaugurated hardline conservative Republican Speaker of the House last month.

U.S. President Joe Biden is speaking during a visit to a farm in Northfield, Minnesota, on the 1st (local time). During the campaign rally that day, President Biden stated, "The United States will continue to provide humanitarian aid to the innocent people of Gaza, and they really need help."
[Photo by AP Yonhap News]

The budget bill passed by the House has been sent to the Senate, but its approval remains uncertain. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stated, "(The Israel-only support bill passed by the House) is a proposal with serious flaws" and said he would not accept it.

Since the Senate has a Democratic majority with 51 seats compared to the Republicans' 49, the likelihood of the Israel-only support budget bill passing in the Senate is low. The Democrats advocate for handling a budget package that includes military aid to both Israel and Ukraine.

Earlier, on the 20th of last month, the Democrats and U.S. President Joe Biden submitted to Congress a $105 billion (approximately 142 trillion won) '2024 Fiscal Year Emergency Supplemental Appropriations' package that includes military aid to Israel and Ukraine, humanitarian aid to Palestinians, support for countries in the Indo-Pacific region such as Taiwan, and enhanced border control measures.

The budget bill includes $14.3 billion for Israel, $61.4 billion for Ukraine, and $10 billion in humanitarian aid for Palestinian residents. It also covers costs for strengthening southern border management to control illegal immigration and expenses for cracking down on fentanyl smuggling, a narcotic.

Foreign media predict that even if the budget bill passed by the House passes the Senate, President Biden is likely to exercise his veto power. The White House's intention is to handle Ukraine aid, which is losing bipartisan support within the House Republicans and public opinion, together with Israel aid, which has bipartisan backing, as a package in Congress.

Accordingly, the possibility cannot be ruled out that political conflicts between the U.S. parties will intensify again during the subsequent processing of this budget bill. The contentious issues between the parties are not limited to foreign military aid. Both the Democrats and Republicans must resolve the 2024 fiscal year budget issue before the mid-month deadline of the temporary budget bill to avoid a partial government shutdown, but finding common ground on the budget size and other matters is expected to be difficult.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.