On aid for Israel, both of our parties are behaving irresponsibly

Israel is at war. It seeks military aid from the U.S. Republican members of Congress overwhelmingly support appropriating $14 billion of it. Most Democrats also support this, at least for now.

Thus, passing the $14 billion aid package should be easy. It’s not.

Democrats have tied aid to Israel to appropriating a much larger amount of aid to Ukraine. In addition, the plan Joe Biden has formulated includes money for “border operations” and funds to help local governments provide services for illegal immigrants. And it includes money for humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, Israel, and Gaza.

The price tag? $106 billion.

As I argued here, Israel, Ukraine, and immigration are separate issues. One can try, as Team Biden does, to link them by saying they all relate to national security. However, they relate to security in different ways. And in the case of Ukraine, the relationship to our security is hotly contested.

Many Republicans are not inclined to appropriate $61 billion to aid Ukraine. Therefore, it’s far from clear that Biden’s proposal will gain enough Republican support to be enacted. And if something like his bill does pass, it probably won’t happen soon.

In short, Democrats are effectively blocking, or at least forestalling, aid to an ally at war by holding such aid hostage to other parts of their legislative agenda that lack strong bipartisan support. That’s irresponsible.

Unfortunately, Republicans are doing the same thing. The GOP-controlled House just passed a bill that appropriates $14 billion for Israel, but also takes the same amount of money from the IRS. The pretext for the cut is “fiscal responsibility.” If we’re going to have $14 billion in new spending, the argument goes, we need to cut $14 billion in old spending.

I’m fine with cutting $14 billion from the IRS. I would be fine with cutting more.

However, the $14 billion cut would not serve the interest of fiscal responsibility. In fact, it would run counter to that interest.

According to an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, the cut would cost the government $26.8 billion in lost tax revenue. This figure may be too high (or too low, as the IRS insists). But in all likelihood, the $14 billion cut would cost the government more than it would save.

Thus, there’s no merit to the claim that taking money from the IRS is justified as a way of paying for the aid to Israel. The real reason for taking that money is unhappiness with the IRS.

In any case, the aid bill just passed by the House will be dead on arrival in the Senate. And Biden has said he will veto the bill if, somehow, it gets to his desk.

In short, Republicans are effectively blocking aid to an ally at war by holding such aid hostage to another part of their legislative agenda. That’s irresponsible.

I’m not one to bemoan the fact that Congress has trouble getting things done. My general view is that the less Congress does, the better.

But there are some things Congress really should do. One of them is promptly appropriating emergency aid for Israel.

Yet, despite the fact that both parties agree that such aid should be appropriated, and don’t disagree about the appropriate amount, it hasn’t happened and may not happen soon.

Congress really does seem to be broken.