“There is nothing more shameful than taking an existential crisis, thousands of dead Israeli civilians, and using them as a fig leaf for Ukraine policy.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senate Democrats rejected an effort led by Senators JD Vance (R-OH), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Eric Schmitt (R-MO) to provide $14.3 billion of aid to Israel. The Senators’ unanimous consent request would have advanced the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act to President Biden’s desk. The legislation, which would provide much-needed aid to Israel, passed the House with bipartisan support at the beginning of November.
Just last week, Senate Democrats rejected an effort by Senators JD Vance (R-OH), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Rick Scott (R-FL) to advance the aid package.
Senator Vance issued the following remarks:
Senator Vance: “This is pretty simple and it’s pretty obvious. The United States Senate would pass aid, much needed aid, to Israel today, at this very moment, aid the House has already passed, it could go to the President’s signature this afternoon, if my Democratic colleagues would stand down, but they won’t.
“Many [Senate Democrats] are gathered to push back against our very common sense proposal to offer support to one of our most important allies as they face an existential threat. And it’s important for us to be honest about that fact, to acknowledge that Israel would be getting support from this government tomorrow if our Democratic friends didn’t stop it today.
“Now, why are they doing this? You will hear, over the next hour or so, we’ll hear a lot of slogans, but very little real discussion about our policy in Ukraine or our policy in Israel. The Democrats have decided that this must be combined into a massive hodgepodge package for it to pass the United States Senate. They’re doing this because they know that America is united behind Israel, and they want to use our Israeli allies as a political cover in their time of crisis. That is all this is about. You’ll hear a whole lot, but that is ultimately what this is about …
“I’m getting sick in this Ukraine policy debate, of hearing the same exact slogans repeated. This country has been governed for 30 years on bipartisan foreign policy slogans. Why don’t we have a real debate? We are told again and again and again that Vladimir Putin is just like Hitler in the 1930s: if we don’t stop him in Ukraine, he’s going to march all the way through Europe.
“What happened to our education system that the only historical analogy we can use in this chamber is World War II? What about World War I, where competing major powers threw the entire world into conflict because we didn’t make smart decisions, we didn’t de-escalate conflict when we had the opportunity? …
“You’ll also hear that China will be emboldened, China will be terribly emboldened if we don’t stop the Russians in Ukraine. Well call me crazy, but I think the Chinese will be emboldened if we use limited American weapons and give it all to the Ukrainians instead of giving it to the Taiwanese.
“Now, maybe you disagree, but let’s have the debate, and let’s have the real debate on the President’s Ukraine policy instead of holding Israel hostage. There is nothing more shameful than taking an existential crisis, thousands of dead Israeli civilians, and using them as a fig leaf for a Ukraine policy. If you want to defend the Ukraine policy, defend it. Let the Israel aid flow through and let’s let it flow through today.”
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