House GOP pushes ahead with $14.5 billion in assistance for Israel without humanitarian aid for Gaza

By LISA MASCARO
AP Congressional Correspondent

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House is pushing ahead toward passage of $14.5 billion in military aid for Israel, but without humanitarian assistance for Gaza. But the partisan approach by new Speaker Mike Johnson is posing a direct challenge to Democrats and President Joe Biden. Johnson’s package is requiring that the emergency aid be offset with cuts in government spending elsewhere. That tack establishes the House GOP’s conservative leadership, but it also turns what would typically be a bipartisan vote into one dividing Democrats and Republicans. Biden has said he’d veto the bill. Biden wants nearly $106 billion for Israel, Ukraine, Gaza, U.S. border security and other needs. Democrats say the GOP bill will go nowhere in the Senate.