White House ‘strongly’ opposes GOP bill pressuring Biden on Israel aid

The White House on Monday said it was strongly opposed to a House GOP bill aimed at President Biden’s handling of aid shipments to Israel.

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre pushed back against the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, which is set to receive a vote this week in the House.

“We strongly, strongly oppose attempts to constrain the president’s ability to deploy U.S. security assistance consistent with U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives,” Jean-Pierre said at a press briefing.

“It is our objective, as well, that we plan to spend every last cent appropriated consistent with legal obligations, including in the recent … national security supplemental that was just passed,” she added.

Biden last week in a CNN interview warned he would stop supplying Israel with offensive weapons like bombs and artillery shells if Israeli forces launched an invasion of Rafah, where about a million refugees have settled after fleeing fighting in northern Gaza.

The U.S. already paused a shipment of bombs to Israel earlier this month over concerns of a looming full-scale invasion of Rafah. Officials said the large bombs were withheld because of the damage they could cause in high-density areas.

In response, the House this week is slated to vote on the Israel Security Assistance Support Act, which urges the “expeditious delivery” of defense articles and services to Israel, condemns the Biden administration’s decision to pause shipments to Israel and reaffirms Israel’s right to self-defense.

It also calls for funds for the secretaries of Defense and State and the National Security Council to be withheld until defense articles are delivered to Israel.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) last week suggested that the president was having a “senior moment” when he announced, during an interview with CNN, the U.S. would stop sending offensive weapons to Israel if its forces invade Rafah, and Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) filed an article of impeachment against Biden last week after he issued his warning.

The vote on the bill has the potential to split Democrats, however.

Progressives have lauded Biden’s threat to cut off weapons shipments to Israel, describing it as the right move amid a growing number of humanitarian deaths in the Gaza Strip.

Meanwhile, a group of 26 House Democrats penned a letter to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan last week that said they were “deeply concerned” about the message the administration was sending to Hamas and other Iranian-backed terrorist proxies by holding back some weapons shipments, a sign that some Democrats may support the GOP-led resolution.