Israel Aid Can Wait Until After House Chooses a Speaker, Foreign Affairs Chair Says

Congress will eventually need to pass an Israel aid package but there's enough existing funding that President Joe Biden and the administration can send while the House remains without a speaker, Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul told reporters Monday.

"We have $3.3 billion in foreign military financing aid available to the president," the Texas Republican said, referring to money Congress previously approved. "He also has draw down authority for weapon systems."

McCaul said the U.S. has plenty of weapons in stock that can and will be provided to Israel, where at least 1,500 Israelis and Palestinians, including 11 Americans, were killed in the surprise Hamas-led attack on the Jewish state. That combined with the foreign military financing will last until the House is able to select a new speaker, he said.

"The good news is that that will last through this crisis, our leadership crisis," McCaul told reporters gathered outside a closed-door meeting of the House Republican Conference, which convened a meeting intended to try to resolve internal divisions and most closer to choosing a new speaker of the House.

McCaul warned that it still is "dangerous" for the House to be without a speaker, not only because the body can't pass legislation but because of the message that it sends to adversaries around the world.

"Iran is backing this. All roads lead to Iran on this," he said of the Hamas-led attack on Israel, which has killed more than 1,000, with others taken hostage by the terrorist organization.

"And then you got Russia invading Ukraine. You got China, threatening Taiwan," he said. "We can't afford to go rudderless without a leader, without a speaker. We have to get this thing done on Wednesday."

McCaul said he participated in a briefing with White House National Security Council officials on Sunday on the situation in Israel in which they discussed weapons support Israel has requested.

"What they need is to replenish the Iron Dome stocks, they need precision guided missiles and they need what's called 155 ammunitions," he said, referring to weapons that can be transferred from existing U.S. stockpiles. "I had a very good discussion with the president and the White House. I'm hoping we're going to move that in quickly."

McCaul acknowledged that there's been some discussion among lawmakers — although more so emanating from the Senate — about attaching any future Israel aid the White House requests from Congress to a previous Ukraine aid request that is still outstanding and potentially adding in funding for other U.S. allies.

"There's discussion about putting Israel funding, Ukraine funding, maybe Taiwan funding and finally border security," he said. "To me, that would be a good package."

However, some House Republicans already batted down the idea of pairing Israel and Ukraine aid because the latter has lackluster support among in their fractured conference.

Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., who chairs the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee, said he prefers any aid for Israel be a separate bill. He made clear, though, that he supports more aid for Ukraine.

“There’s still quite a bit of money left for Ukraine,” Diaz-Balart said. “I think that there is potentially going to be a lot more urgency for the situation in Israel.”

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., a staunch supporter of Ukraine aid, said he thinks Israel aid should be considered separately. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., one of the opponents of providing more Ukraine aid, agreed.

"Politics is the art of the possible, so I'd want to think about whether or not that made it more difficult for one or the other to get done," Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said when asked about a potential pairing of Israel and Ukraine aid.

The discussions around Israel aid may take some time once the House elects a new speaker and when the Senate returns next week from recess.

But McCaul is eying action as soon as Wednesday, if the House elects a speaker that day, on a nonbinding "sense of Congress" messaging bill that will show bipartisan unity for supporting Israel and condemning Hamas.

As soon as the House elects a speaker, McCaul said, "The first bill that's going to be on the floor is my resolution condemning Hamas for this provoked attack on Israel."

Stephen Neukam contributed to this report.