Next week, the GOP-led House will vote on a new, $17.6 billion Israel aid package that won't include IRS funding cuts contained in their original bill, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said on Saturday.
What's more (oh boy!), the new House bill includes $3.3 billion to support US military operations in the Middle East as regional conflicts break out on multiple fronts, Axios reports.
Johnson's announcement comes as Senate negotiators prepare to roll out a comprehensive package that would fund Israel, Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific (oh, and border security funds are in there somewhere!).
In a letter to House Republicans obtained by Axios, Johnson wrote that Senate leadership has "eliminated the ability for swift consideration" of an emergency spending package by refusing to include House leadership in the talks.
"Given the Senate's failure to move appropriate legislation in a timely fashion, and the perilous circumstances currently facing Israel, the House will … take up and pass a clean, standalone Israel supplemental package," Johnson's letter reads.
Johnson noted that the IRS offset was the "primary objection" Democrats had to the previous Israel bill, and that the Senate will "no longer have excuses … against swift passage of this critical support for our ally."
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