White House national security spokesperson John Kirby confirmed Thursday that President Joe Biden would veto House Republicans’ stand-alone Israel funding bill.
House Republicans put forth a bill that would give $14.3 billion in aid for Israel and cuts to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), a key element in Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. A reporter asked Kirby if previous statements made by Vice President Kamala Harris about Biden vetoing a stand-alone bill were correct.
“The President would veto an only Israel bill, I think that we’ve made that clear,” Kirby said in a Thursday press briefing.
REPORTER: “Was the Vice President correct, he would veto an Israel only bill?”
KIRBY: “The President would veto an only Israel bill, I think that we’ve made that clear.” pic.twitter.com/1e2Nd3w8jZ
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 2, 2023
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) previously said that Biden would veto the specific House Republicans proposal, criticizing the package for leaving out humanitarian aid to Gaza and funding for Ukraine. The OMB argued that the bill “inserts partisanship into support for Israel.”
Biden requested that Congress approve a nearly $106 billion aid package in October that coupled more than $61 billion to Ukraine, $14.3 billion to Israel and $13.6 billion to the nation’s border crisis, with $1.4 billion of the funds going to state and local governments struggling to handle an influx of migrants.
GOP senators blasted Biden for using Israel to push for more funding for Ukraine, calling it “unreasonable” and “irresponsible” as well as an “insulting” exploit of Israel. Democratic city leaders also criticized Biden for tying border funding to the package, arguing that the domestic issue needs to be prioritized as a stand-alone package. (RELATED: Biden Says It Would Be ‘Big Mistake’ For Israel To Occupy Gaza, Hamas Doesn’t Represent Palestinians)
“If the Biden administration’s case for additional Ukraine aid is not strong enough to stand on its own, then packaging them is an insulting request to lay before Congress,” Utah Sen. Mike Lee previously told the Daily Caller. “It is unreasonable for the administration to exploit an aid package for Israel to siphon off billions of taxpayer dollars in yet another blank check for Ukraine.”
