The House on Thursday passed a bill approving $1 billion in supplemental funding to restore Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system capabilities, with a nearly unanimous bipartisan 420-9 vote.
In total, eight Democrats and one Republican voted against the measure, with two Democrats also voting ‘present.’
“The United States’ commitment to the security of our friend and ally Israel is ironclad. Replenishing interceptors used to protect Israel from attacks is our legal and moral responsibility,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said in a statement before Thursday’s vote. “While this funding would ordinarily be included in a year-end spending package, we are advancing this legislation now to demonstrate Congress’ bipartisan commitment to Israel’s security as part of a Middle East with lasting peace.”
The Iron Dome funding was originally included in a stopgap funding bill rolled out Tuesday morning but was then removed following pushback from progressive lawmakers. Democrats required unified support to pass the continuing resolution (CR) facing Republican’s opposition to the broader bill’s inclusion to suspend the debt ceiling through December 2022 (Defense Daily, Sept. 21).
“This is not a partisan issue. And, very frankly, the CR that was brought to the floor the other day would have said we are going to pay the debts of the United States because we don’t welch and we are going to fund Iron Dome. Unfortunately, because…our Republican colleagues would have refused and said they would not vote for that [CR] and because, yes, there were very, very few [members] who said they wouldn’t vote for it on our side…we could not pass it. So the debt limit was at risk and Iron Dome was at risk,” Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the House Majority Leader, said during floor debate ahead of the vote.
The House on Tuesday evening voted 220-211 to pass the CR, with a debt ceiling suspension and without the Iron Dome funding, to keep the government open through Dec. 3. The Senate it set to take up the bill early next week.
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), chair of the House Appropriations Defense Committee, noted the $706 billion FY ‘22 defense spending bill her panel advanced in July included full funding for Iron Dome support (Defense Daily, July 13).
“I’m a strong supporter of human rights, Palestinian and Israeli rights. As chair of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, the Iron Dome was fully funded in the FY ‘22 defense appropriations bill that passed out of committee with unanimous Democratic support and no Republican votes. The CR earlier this week added language for $1 billion for Iron Dome despite no request received by me from the Biden administration,” McCollum said during floor debate, before voting in support of the bill.
The nine ‘No’ votes against the bill included Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Andre Carson (D-Ind.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Marie Newman (D-Ill.), Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), Jesus Garcia (D-Ill.), Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Cori Bush (D-Mo.), as well as Republican Thomas Massie (R-Ky.).
“I will not support an effort to enable and support war crimes, human rights abuses and violence. We cannot be talking only about Israelis’ need for safety at a time when Palestinian are living under a violent apartheid system and are dying from what Human Rights Watch has said are war crimes. We should also be talking about Palestinian need for security from Israeli attacks. We must be consistent in our commitment to human life,” Tlaib said during floor debate ahead of the vote.
The supplemental funding bill for Iron Dome support now heads to the Senate for consideration.