Republicans push bill that would link $14.3 billion aid package to Israel to ‘offsets’ from reduced spending for the IRS.
By World Israel News Staff
The Biden White House castigated House Republicans this week over plans to link emergency funding for Israel to cuts to planned spending.
On Monday, Republicans in the House introduced a bill which would require that the planned $14.3 billion in emergency aid to Israel be offset by cuts to spending in part of the massive Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Signed into law in August 2022, the IRA included a provision to increase funding for the Internal Revenue Service by a whopping $80 billion, part of which was earmarked to fund audits for high-income earners.
The Republican bill would, if passed, cut $14.3 billion from the package to offset the new emergency spending for Israel’s war effort against Hamas.
The House is slated to vote on the Israel aid bill this Thursday.
In a White House memo obtained by Fox News, Deputy Press Secretary and Senior Communications Adviser Andrew Bates lambasted House Republicans for tying emergency funding for Israel to changes to the IRA, calling it a “political stunt.”
“Despite strong bipartisan agreement that the United States must support Israel as it defends itself after the worst terrorist attack in its history, House Republicans are engaging in a dangerous political stunt that for the first time in American history demands emergency national security funding be fully offset,” Bates wrote.
“Though the United States has delivered urgent defense funding to a wide range of allies over many years, this has never been a requirement.”
Bates asked why Israel “should be singled out in this way,” referencing the Hamas atrocities of October 7th.
“Why should it be treated differently, especially when they were just subjected to the worst massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust?”
“This is a time for all of us to come together – as the American people have – and not undermine our national security with political stunts that prioritize internal points-scoring over our safety in the world.”