KISSIMMEE, Florida—The $14.3 billion emergency assistance bill adopted by the Republican-led House in a near-partisan Nov. 3 vote is dead on arrival in the Senate, while the Democrat-majority Senate’s proposed $106 billion supplemental funding package, which includes the Israeli aid measure, is a non-starter in the House.
Who blinks first will be a sub-current theme beginning Nov. 6 when both chambers resume budget deliberations less than two weeks before a 45-day stopgap measure funding the federal government expires Nov. 17.
Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and three Sunshine State House Republicans vowed during the Nov. 4 Florida Freedom Summit that they won’t back down in insisting all supplemental budget measures be debated and voted on individually rather than in bulk packages, including those for Israel, Ukraine, and the border.
The Israel emergency aid bill was adopted after vigorous debate on the House floor as a standalone $14.3 billion measure that will be “offset” by rescinding a corresponding amount of money earmarked for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) under 2022’s Inflation Reduction Act.
The 226-196 House adoption was boosted by 12 Democrats who joined Republicans in sending the bill to the Senate. Two Republicans—Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.)—voted against the measure.
Democrats and some Republicans, especially in the Senate, demand the emergency assistance package also include aid for Ukraine in its war to repel Russia’s invasion and other national security priorities, including the border.
But that’s not going to happen, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) told about 1,500 summit attendees at Gaylord Resort & Convention Center outside Orlando. Among the day-long summit’s 25 seekers were five GOP presidential candidates, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former President Donald Trump.
“This administration is trying to spend another $100 billion of your money on top of the $6 trillion that they’ve already spent in the last two years,” he said. “Our entire [annual] federal budget is $1.5 trillion. They’ve already spent three times that. They want to spend $100 [billion] more on top of it. That’s everything from disaster aid to Ukraine to Israel to China. No, no, no.”
Mr. Waltz said new House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) has made it clear the House will “absolutely not” consider the Senate’s proposed omnibus assistance package.
“We’re going to debate all of these separately. We’re going to break up your big swamp spending package,” he said. “It’s got to be paid for and, you know, we’re taking it from the IRS.”
That drew applause.
“But there’s a long list of things to take it from,” Mr. Waltz said. “You can take it from ‘Green New Deal’ subsidies. You can take it from all the paycheck protection fraud. They are massive pots of money that we will use to support Israel, but we’re going to call out this bad policy.”
That drew an even bigger applause.
Mr. Waltz said bad policy equals wasted money. With the nation $33 trillion in debt, it’s time to talk about the bad policies at the root of wasted billions.
“It’s bad policy on Iran. It’s bad policy on the border. It’s bad policy on Russia and Ukraine. And this is a policy problem from Joe Biden,” he said. “But Washington loves to talk about what to do with your money, so we’re going to fix the policy before we spend your money.”
Scott: McConnell on Schumer-Biden Team
Mr. Scott said Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has been a stout Ukraine supporter, is aggressively lobbying chamber Republicans to reject the House’s stand-alone measure with its IRS.Mr. McConnell, he said, has essentially joined the same team as Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (R-N.Y.) and President Joe Biden.
“They’re hell-bent on helping Ukraine and [giving] more money for sanctuary cities, right?” Mr. Scott said. “It wouldn’t be crazy to make that [Ukraine funding] a separate decision.”
“I got a special message for my colleagues in the Senate, Sens. Chuck Schumer and Mitch McConnell: we cannot continue to fund the government that doesn’t do its first job, which is securing the border and securing the people of the United States of America,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) said. “They might disagree in the Senate, but there’s a reason why the Senate has been wrong on every issue facing the United States for the last 30 years.”
“America is not the world’s police force, and America is not the world’s piggy bank,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.). “I care more about the people of East Palestine, Ohio, than what’s going on in the Palestine in the Middle East. There is no excuse to not getting spending under control.”
Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) said there is overwhelming support for the Israeli emergency funding measure and for funding the crisis at the border like an emergency, while there are questions about Ukraine funding.
The specific emergency or crisis is not the point. The point is the budget process is busted, and there needs to be greater scrutiny in appropriating money taxpayers will someday have to pay for, he said.
“At the end of the day, we have to understand that we must stand strong with our allies,” Mr. Mills said. “But we really need to get back to an America First agenda. We have to start prioritizing securing our borders. We have to start thinking about our economic growth. We have to start thinking about the potential of our children in our schools.”
Mr. Waltz called on Senate Democrats and Mr. McConnell to put politics aside and pass the House standalone $14.3 billion Israel aid package quickly and sort through the other supplemental funding requests one by one later.
“We’re not talking about supporting Israel; we’re talking about Israel’s right to exist and its ability to exist,” he said.
