The Senate blocked a House bill on Tuesday that provides $14.3 billion in aid to Israel amid its war against Hamas and cuts funding for the IRS.
A group of Republicans led by Senator Roger Marshall (R., Kan.) asked for unanimous consent to pass the House-approved legislation, prompting the chamber to vote to postpone proceedings.
Marshall, as well as Senators Mike Lee (R., Utah), Ted Cruz (R., Texas), Ron Johnson (R., Wis.), and Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.), asked multiple times to put the bill on table to advance, the Hill reported. However, Democratic senator Patty Murray (Wash.) resisted, demanding aid to Ukraine be included in the bill.
“We cannot send the message to our allies or to the world that America only stands by some of its allies — that our word is only good some of the time,” Murray said on the Senate floor, the New York Post reported.
“The quorum call is right now just freezing the floor of the Senate. My assumption is that [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and Democratic leadership is in their office panicking and trying to figure out what to do next. Their objective is to prevent a vote,” Cruz said on Tuesday.
Murray then introduced a motion to table the bill, which the Senate then voted to do 51 to 48.
“Once again, I had to block a Senate Republican’s attempt to pit aid for Israel against support for Ukraine and humanitarian assistance,” Murray wrote in an X post. “I’ve said this before & I’ll say it again: we cannot just do half our job. It’s not just wrong — it’s dangerous and it’s naïve.”
The bill’s survival in the Senate had been unlikely since Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) swore earlier this month that the Senate “will not be considering this deeply flawed proposal from the House GOP.” Schumer’s complaints stemmed from the Congressional Budget Office’s calculation that the bill would add $12 billion to the budget deficit.
“Instead, we will work together on our own bipartisan emergency-aid package that includes aid to Israel, Ukraine, competition with the Chinese government, and humanitarian aid to Gaza,” he said.
The bipartisan measure combines aid for Israel with $14.3 billion in slashes to IRS funding. It passed in the House in a 226–196 vote on November 2, with twelve Democrats voting with all but two Republicans to pass it.
After the bill was tabled, Marshall blasted his Democratic colleagues for stonewalling financial support to Israel.
“This is now the second hour I’ve spent on the floor debating my friends from across the aisle, and they spend three-fourths of their time telling us why we should fund Ukraine,” he said, according to the Post. “They seem to be allergic to the word ‘Israel.'”