Speaker Mike Johnson’s decision to force a stand-alone vote on aid for Israel, peeling off a request from the Biden administration for money from Ukraine and coupling it with spending cuts, has set up a confrontation between the House and Senate over how to fund U.S. allies during the conflicts.
Mr. Johnson, the Louisiana Republican who has personally voted against sending military aid to Kyiv, released a $14 billion aid bill for Israel on Monday. It includes a provision that would rescind the same amount of money earmarked for the Internal Revenue Service as part of the Inflation Reduction Act, a key piece of President Biden’s agenda.
Mr. Biden has asked Congress to pass a $105 billion aid package for Israel and Ukraine that also has funds for Taiwan and border security in the United States. But Mr. Johnson spurned that request, in an acknowledgment of how toxic funding for Ukraine has become among Republicans.
And while a bill to help fund Israel in its war against Hamas would likely have mustered an overwhelming bipartisan vote, Mr. Johnson went one step further, injecting a provision that would roll back a top priority of Mr. Biden and Democrats that experts said would increase the nation’s debt.
In an interview on Tuesday on Fox News’s “Outnumbered,” Mr. Johnson conceded that the provision could erode bipartisan support for the aid package, but he essentially dared Democrats to vote against supporting Israel.
“If you put this to the American people and weigh the two needs, I think they will say standing with Israel and protecting the innocent is a more immediate need than I.R.S. agents,” Mr. Johnson said.
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