Newly appointed House Speaker Mike Johnson said Sunday that he expects steps to be taken this week to push a funding bill solely to support Israel, even as President Joe Biden pushes for a one-time package of aid for Israel and Ukraine worth $106 billion.
“This week we’re going to introduce a separate bill in the House to fund Israel,” Johnson said in an interview with Fox News, adding that he believes the measure will have bipartisan support and that Republicans will support a similar measure in the Senate. . .
Members of the House of Representatives, which Republicans closely control, are scheduled to return from recess on Wednesday.
“There are a lot of things going on in the world that we need to address, and we will,” Johnson said, without directly mentioning the conflict in Ukraine. “But now what’s happening in Israel is getting immediate attention and we have to separate it from everything else and move on.”
Biden called on Congress to approve an additional $106 billion in appropriations, with most of the money going to bolster Ukraine’s defenses against Russia and the rest divided between Israel, the Indo-Pacific and immigration enforcement across the country. along the border between the United States and Mexico.
Johnson said greater support for Israel must be a priority on the US national security agenda following the October 7 surprise attack on the Jewish state by Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip that killed more than 1,400. people and took more than 200 hostages.
In retaliation, Israel closed the Gaza Strip and launched a barrage of airstrikes on the Palestinian coastal enclave, followed by a ground offensive that killed more than 7,000 Palestinians, including nearly 3,000 children.