New Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is lobbying for a separate package of military aid to Israel, excluding Ukraine

Newlyelected Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson proposes toallocate $14.3 billion in aid to Israel in a separate package, withoutsimultaneously providing arms aid to Ukraine.

This isstated in the bill submitted by Johnson, which is scheduled to be consideredthis week, Politico reports.

Thedocument provides for:

• $4 billion for Israel to purchasetwo missile defence systems, the Iron Dome and the Sling of David;
• $4.4 billion for the Pentagon toreplace weapons and equipment sent to Israel and reimburse costs;
• $3.5 billion for the StateDepartment as foreign military funding to assist Israel;
• $1.2 billion for research anddevelopment of Israel's Iron Beam laser air defence project.

At the sametime, the publication notes that it will not be easy to pass such a bill, asthere are many opponents of this idea in the Senate, the upper house ofCongress.

In particular,the leader of the Senate majority, Democrat Chuck Schumer, and the Republicanminority, Mitch McConnell, support President Joe Biden's initiative to combineaid to Ukraine and Israel into a single package worth $106 billion.

"Webelieve, as a Democratic Party, that we have to do all of this together:Israel, Ukraine, the South Pacific, and so on," Schumer said.

Somepro-Israel Democrats in the House of Representatives may support the speaker'sbill, which requires only a simple majority to pass. However, in the Senate,the document will need 60 votes, including at least nine Republicans.

ChuckSchumer has criticised Johnson's bill because of its narrow scope and the factthat it is funded by the IRS. Conservatives also criticise the speaker's idea,with Republican Thomas Massie saying that "we simply cannot affordit".

On Monday,30 October, Mike Johnson announced his intention to discuss with Chuck Schumerthis week a bill to fund Israel alone. According to the speaker, Israel"needs immediate attention".

At the sametime, Senate Minority Leader, Republican John Thune, said: "How all thiswill happen is still an open question. The situation can be resolved bynegotiations between the House and the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, andprobably between some members of the Republican Party."

Options for financial assistance to Ukraine andIsrael

On 20October, US President JoeBiden requested an additional $106bn funding package from Congress. Of thisamount, $61.3 billion is proposed to be allocated to supply weapons to Ukraine,and $14.3 billion to Israel.

At the sametime, nine Republican senatorssent a joint letter to the Senate leadership calling for the aid packagesfor Israel and Ukraine to be split. The authors argue that combining thelegislation into a single package would complicate the political situation andsupport for war-torn Israel.

The leaderof the Republican minority in the US Senate, Mitch McConnell, has supported themerger of financial aid packages for Ukraine and Israel, despite the fact thatthe majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives insist on aseparate package for Tel Aviv.