The House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill that would deliver a rebuke to the Biden administration by seeking to force him to continue weapons transfers to Israel despite President Joe Biden's pledge to halt a shipment of bombs in an effort to discourage an offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Sixteen Democrats joined nearly all Republicans in support of the bill, which is opposed by the White House. The final tally was 224-187.
The bill sponsored by Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., would condemn the Biden administration’s decision to recently pause an arms shipment to Israel. It also calls on the administration to allow previously approved weapons transfers to proceed quickly, urges the executive branch to use all congressionally approved aid for Israel as intended and states that Congress stands with Israel in its war against Hamas.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that one shipment of heavy bombs to Israel was intentionally delayed, and President Joe Biden threatened to cut off U.S.-supplied offensive weapons to Israel if it launches an all-out assault on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
The president cited the large number of civilians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.
“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers,” Biden said in an interview with CNN. “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah — they haven’t gone in Rafah yet — if they go into Rafah, I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically.”
Debate over the bill, rushed to the House floor by GOP leadership this week, showed Washington's deeply fractured outlook on the Israel-Hamas war. The White House and Democratic leadership have scrambled to rally support from a House caucus that ranges from moderates frustrated that the president would allow any daylight between the U.S. and Israel to progressives outraged that he is still sending any weapons at all.
On the right, Republicans said the president had no business chiding Israel for how it uses the U.S.-manufactured weapons that are instrumental in its war against Hamas. They have not been satisfied with the Biden administration moving forward this week on a new $1 billion sale to Israel of tank ammunition, tactical vehicles and mortar rounds.
“We’re beyond frustrated,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said. “I don’t think we should tell the Israelis how to conduct their military campaign, period.”
The White House has said Biden would veto the bill if it passes Congress, and the Democratic-led Senate seems certain to reject it.
“It’s not going anywhere," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said this week.
Republicans were undeterred as they tried to highlight Democratic divides on the Israel-Hamas war. Appearing on the Capitol steps ahead of voting Thursday morning, House Republican leaders argued that passage of the bill in the House would build pressure on Schumer and Biden.
“It is President Biden and Sen. Schumer himself who are standing in the way of getting Israel the resources it desperately needs to defend itself,” Speaker Mike Johnson said.
The Biden administration further angered Republicans by releasing a report last week that said there is “reasonable” evidence to conclude Israel’s use of U.S.-provided arms violated international law protecting civilians but that wartime conditions prevented officials from conclusively linking specific American weapons to individual attacks by Israel in Gaza.
Faced with the potential for a significant number of those Democrats voting for the GOP House bill, the White House has been in touch this week with lawmakers and congressional aides about the legislation, including with a classified briefing on the security situation.
House Democratic leadership worked hard to convince rank-and-file lawmakers to vote against the bill.
“This is another political stunt from the House GOP," said Rep. Katherine Clark, the No. 2 House Democrat, who contended that the bill would endanger national security by withholding funding from key defense agencies.
While some Democrats have praised Biden for trying to prevent future civilian deaths by drawing a red line with Israel, others in his party have criticized the president.
Spearheaded by Rep. Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., 26 House Democrats sent a letter to national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday saying they are “deeply concerned about the message” Biden is sending to Hamas and other Iran-backed proxy groups by withholding weapons from Israel.
“With democracy under assault around the world, we cannot undermine our ally Israel, especially in her greatest hour of need,” the Democrats wrote.
“We have a duty to continue to equip Israel with the resources she needs to defend herself and crush the terrorists who also seek to do America harm,” they continued.
“The administration has been wavering so I’m going to vote for the bill when it comes to the floor,” New York Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres, a staunch supporter of Israel, said this week.
Other Democrats who strongly support Israel said they had not decided how they would vote, criticizing Republicans for using it as a political tool.
“They’re just using this to try to jam Democrats and look like they actually pretend they actually care about Israel,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat.
Another Florida Democrat, Rep. Jared Moskowitz, said he was also considering the messages being sent to the Jewish community in the United States.
“My community right now is worried,” he said. “Things don’t happen in a vacuum.”
Asked about the bill earlier this week, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “We strongly, strongly oppose attempts to constrain the president’s ability to deploy U.S. security assistance consistent with U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives.”
She added the Biden administration plans to “spend every last cent appropriated consistent with legal obligations.”
In a statement published Tuesday by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the Biden administration noted its strong opposition to the bill, calling it "a misguided reaction to a deliberate distortion of the administration’s approach to Israel," a direct response to comments like those of Sen. Cotton. The White House added that the bill "could lead to spiraling unintended consequences" that would prevent the U.S. from pivoting on security assistance when needed, even if the U.S. and Israel were in agreement on necessary changes.
The message was punctuated with a promise: Should the bill pass both chambers of Congress and be presented to Biden, the president would strike it down with his veto.