Senate leadership said Tuesday it was prepared for the White House to send additional aid requests for Israel and possibly Ukraine later this week – as the House of Representatives is busy choosing a new speaker.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) signaled support for the expected spending, which faces an uncertain path to passage in the Republican-controlled House.
“We want to get that additional package moved as quickly as possible, because the need is so great in Israel and Ukraine,” said Schumer, who led a bipartisan delegation to Israel over the weekend.
“The administration should send one by the end of this week. I am working with Leader McConnell to resolve this as soon as possible.”
“We expect the administration to send additional ones related to Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan,” McConnell added, “and Republicans will want something serious about the border.
Mitch McConnell and Chuck Schumer accompanied Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during his visit to DC last month.Shutterstock
“We will see the package when they send it. Make suggestions to improve it if that is necessary. But clearly, the world has changed dramatically in the last 10 days.”
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The 81-year-old McConnell also underlined that “we are all heartbroken and disgusted, really, by the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israel.”
Some Republican Senate members such as JD Vance of Ohio have demanded that aid to Israel be considered separately from Ukrainian funding.
Rockets fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza City were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. AFP via Getty Images
But the real problem is in the House of Representatives where Republicans like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) have strongly opposed additional aid to the Kyiv government.
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According to rules, the House cannot proceed with other business until a speaker is elected to replace Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) following his removal Oct. 3.
“You cover the House. I’ve got my hands full here in the Senate,” McConnell told reporters when asked about the state of the lower house, where a vote to nominate Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) failed Tuesday afternoon.
A salvo of rockets is fired by Palestinian militants from Gaza as Israeli missiles are launched from the Iron Dome missile defense system. AFP via Getty Images
“This house is a bit of a mess,” lamented Schumer. “So we think the best thing to do is pass a strong, big supplement with strong bipartisan support and that might force the House to act.”
“There are no words — no words for the horror that we saw,” Schumer added when asked about his trip to Israel, recounting that the Jewish state’s ambassador to China had told him “about a kibbutz where they gathered 100 people … they herded them into.” rest room, from the age of 80 to three months. They shot them all.”
The worst attack on Israel in 50 years: How we got here
2005: Israel unilaterally withdraws from the Gaza Strip three decades after winning the territory from Egypt in the Six-Day War.
2006: The terrorist group Hamas wins Palestinian legislative elections.
2007: Hamas takes control of Gaza in a civil war.
2008: Israel launched a military offensive against Gaza after Palestinian terrorists fired rockets into the city of Sderot.
2023: Hamas launches its biggest attack on Israel in 50 years.
More than 1,400 Israelis have been killed, more than 4,200 wounded and at least 100 taken hostage, with the death toll expected to rise after Hamas terrorists fired thousands of rockets and sent dozens of militants into Israeli cities.
Hamas terrorists are seen taking women hostage and parading them through the streets in a gruesome video.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced “We are at war” and promised Hamas would pay an “unprecedented price.”
Gaza health officials reported at least 3,000 Palestinians killed and more than 12,500 injured.
“It reminds me of what happened to my family when the Nazis came to Ukraine,” he continued. “They asked my great-grandmother to put her entire extended family on the veranda. He did, 35 people aged 88 to three months, and they shot them all dead.
A residential building was destroyed by gunfire amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.REUTERS
“A lot of us understand this, and it’s etched in our memory,” Schumer continued. “So, it was a horrible, horrible day.”
The 72-year-old also insisted that the US should “remind Israel that he must be humanitarian, that he must obey the rules of war and must minimize civilian casualties among the Palestinians.”
At one point, McConnell took a rare public jab at former President Donald Trump for describing the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah as “very smart” and criticizing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a campaign rally in Florida last week.
Both Senate leaders publicly supported additional aid to war-torn Ukraine.REUTERS
“I don’t agree with him. Hezbollah is a terrorist organization like Hamas, funded by the same source – Iran,” McConnell said. “And Prime Minister Netanyahu is one of the great leaders of modern times.”
Trump’s campaign has defended his remarks, arguing that he “clearly showed how incompetent Biden and his administration are by telegraphing terrorist-prone areas” and that “smart does not equal good.”
Biden was due to leave the White House for Israel sometime on Tuesday, with his arrival set for early Wednesday.
Members of the Jewish community gather for a vigil on October 9 as war breaks out in Israel.Getty Images
The Oct. 7 terror attack on southern Israel by Hamas killed more than 1,300 people, including at least 30 Americans. A total of 13 more US citizens are reported missing, with some being held hostage in the Gaza Strip.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
