A key House appropriator is criticizing a proposal to separate the approximately USD3 billion that the U.S. provides for Israel every year from the rest of the donor nation’s foreign assistance budget, Laura Rozen says.
Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), chairwoman of the state and foreign and operations panel of the House Appropriations committee, said House Republican Whip Rep. Eric Cantor’s (R-Vir.) proposal was “reckless” and “outrageous.”
“Cantor told JTA [a Jewish news agency] in an interview Sunday [Oct. 24] that a GOP-led House might vote against the foreign ops budget, in which case he would seek to move U.S. assistance to Israel out of the foreign ops appropriations bill, in order to protect it,” Rozen writes in her blog.
“Minority Whip Cantor’s proposal is as transparent as it is reckless,” Lowey said in a statement as quoted by Rozen.
“The foreign aid bill funds U.S. diplomatic efforts at the State Department, including diplomacy related to peace in the Middle East,” she added. “Because it is inextricably linked with broader U.S. national security goals, separating assistance for Israel in order to make it easier for Republican members to vote against the foreign aid bill would be counterproductive.”
“Too much is at stake to give Republicans in Congress a license to vote against the foreign aid budget, and it is clear that Eric Cantor’s outrageous proposal is based purely on political motives, not what is best for U.S. or global security,” Lowey said.
Meanwhile, Josh Rogin of Foreign Policy notes that Cantor’s comments suggest that “relative bipartisan support for robust foreign aid funding may be coming to an end.”
