Vote Explainer: Emergency Supplemental Appropriations for Israel

Transparency is vital to democracy. Below please find explainers for key votes I took in the 118th Congress.

H.R. 7217 - Making emergency supplemental appropriations to respond to the attacks in Israel for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024 and for other purposes

Today I voted against H.R. 7217, a standalone bill that would provide additional military aid to Israel, for three reasons: 

First, this bill does not include humanitarian aid for Gaza. Since just after the barbaric Hamas attack of October 7th, I have argued how critical it is for Israel to protect and support the innocent in Gaza. Doing so is morally right, and militarily necessary, if Israel is to defeat Hamas. America learned in Iraq and Afghanistan how critical protecting civilians is to winning a counterinsurgency campaign.

Second, supporting Ukraine is critical to our national security, and Ukraine has a more urgent and existential need for immediate military aid than Israel at this moment, so we need to do what we can to force House Republicans to stop backing Vladimir Putin and Russia by leaving the Ukrainians out to dry. Hopefully by defeating this standalone bill, Republicans will return to some version of the joint aid bill negotiated in the Senate to support Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan.

Third, by intentionally leaving out Ukraine funding and Gaza humanitarian aid, the Speaker is trying to politicize aid to Israel. Although the bill was defeated by a bipartisan vote, I even heard from Republicans who voted for the bill that they are furious with Speaker Johnson for deliberately playing politics with Israel.