WASHINGTON —Senate Democrats on Tuesday afternoon blocked Kansas U.S. Senator Roger Marshall's effort to pass the aid package to Israel that House Speaker Mike Johnson and the House GOP delivered to the Senate last week.
The nearly $14.5 billion military aid package approved in the House Thursday for Israel, a muscular U.S. response to the war with Hamas but also a partisan approach by new Speaker Mike Johnson that poses a direct challenge to Democrats and President Joe Biden.
On social media Marshall wrote, "Today marks one month since Hamas brutally attacked and murdered thousands of Israelis, and 36 American citizens. We cannot delay this aid to Israel another day."
“The first step in freeing these [American] hostages and helping Israel destroy these terrorists is passing aid for Israel. We must send the world a clear message attacking the United States and our allies and partners is a bad idea.”
However, Johnson's package of assistance for Israel required that the emergency aid be offset with cuts in government spending elsewhere. That tack established the new House GOP's conservative leadership, but it also turned what would typically be a bipartisan vote into one dividing Democrats and Republicans.
Democrats said that approach would only delay help for Israel. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has warned that the “stunningly unserious” bill has no chances in the Senate.