Congress Passes Final FY ’22 NDAA, Including More Millions for Israel
An Israeli Iron Dome anti-rocket system (r) and an U.S. Patriot missile defense system (l) are exposed during a joint Israeli-U.S. military exercise at the Hatzor Airforce Base on March 8, 2018. The U.S. has contributed $7 billion to Israel’s missile defense systems, in addition to $4 billion in aid annually. (JACK GUEZ/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES)
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March/April 2022, pp. 32-33, 38
Congress Watch
By Shirl McArthur
THE SENATE FINALLY passed a revised version of S. 1605, the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2022. The bill started in the House as H.R. 4350, and was passed in that form by the House on Sept. 23. But that went nowhere in the Senate. After much behind-the-scenes negotiations, a new version was inserted into a previously-introduced, obscure bill, S. 1605, and the new version was passed by the House on Dec. 7, passed by the Senate on Dec. 15, and signed by President Joe Biden on Dec. 27 as PL 117-81.
Notably, the final bill does not include the provision, included in the earlier version, authorizing $1 billion in supplemental funding for Israel to replenish the short-range Iron Dome missile defense system used during the May 2021 fighting between Israel and Hamas. However, it does authorize $200 million in procurements for Israel, comprised of $108 billion for Iron Dome, $30 million for David’s Sling and $62 million for Arrow 3. In addition, it authorizes $300 million for so-called “U.S.-Israel cooperative programs,” and $30 million over five years for “U.S.-Israel cybersecurity cooperation.” These amounts are in addition to the $3.8 billion or so provided in the regular Foreign Operations Appropriations bill.
ANOTHER BILLION FOR ISRAEL STILL STUCK IN THE SENATE
As reported in previous Washington Report issues, congressional Zionists failed several times to get another $1 billion appropriated for Israel by calling it “Iron Dome replenishment” and slipping it into other, unrelated measures. So House Appropriations Committee Chair Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) in September introduced H.R. 5323, the stand-alone “Iron Dome Supplemental Appropriations” bill to appropriate the $1 billion for Israel. It passed the House on Sept. 23 under “suspension of the rules” by a vote of 420-9, with two voting “present.”
But H.R. 5323 has not moved in the Senate where it has been blocked by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) who wants it to be paid for by cutting funding for Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. On Dec. 15, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) for the fourth time sought unanimous consent to bring the bill to the floor to be voted on, and for the fourth time Paul objected. He had introduced S. 2944, the “Funding Iron Dome by Defunding the Taliban” bill in October. In arguing for his bill on the Senate floor, Paul raised the objections of many House members who do so privately rather than publicly so as to not be labeled “anti-Semitic.” He said, “the billion dollars under consideration today is on top of the more than $1.6 billion the United States has already given for Iron Dome, and that is not all. The United States provides Israel with just under $4 billion in aid annually. To date, the United States has provided over $146 billion in aid to Israel. In addition to Iron Dome the United States has helped Israel fund other missile defense systems as well. We spent $2 billion on David’s Sling and $3.7 billion on Arrow programs. That means the United States has contributed $7 billion to Israel’s missile defense systems….”
Interestingly, Paul has not been attacked by members of Congress for blocking the Iron Dome bill, as were the few House progressives who objected to the funding or voted “no” or “present” on H.R. 5323.
None of the several other bills to provide funding for Iron Dome introduced by Republicans grandstanding for their Zionist donors and voters has gained further support.
HOUSE PASSES FLAWED ANTI-ISLAMOPHOBIA BILL
On Dec. 9 and 10 the House Foreign Affairs Committee (HFAC) marked up H.R. 5665, introduced in October by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), “to establish in the Department of State the Office to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia” worldwide. During the markup sessions Republican members tried to shift the debate to be about anti-Semitism. Ironically many of the comments and amendments submitted clearly demonstrated the Islamophobia the bill was intended to attack, as well as some outrageous personal attacks on Omar. The full House passed the amended bill on Dec. 14 by a party-line vote of 219-212. When passed, the bill had 56 cosponsors, all Democrats.
One amendment included in the HFAC version reported out and passed by the full House, unfortunately, was a provision that no funds may be made available pursuant to the bill to promote or endorse a boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against Israel or Israel-related individuals or organizations.
Seeing that her bill was being gutted in the committee, Omar on Dec. 9 introduced H.R. 6204, a “clean” version of H.R. 5665 that doesn’t include the anti-BDS language. It has 56 cosponsors.
OTHER POSITIVE MEASURES MAKE SLIGHT PROGRESS
H.Res. 751, introduced in October by Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) “Condemning the repressive designation by the Government of Israel of six prominent Palestinian human rights and civil society groups as terrorist organizations,” has gained a cosponsor and now has 11. The six organizations are Addameer, Al-Haq, Defense for Children International-Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, Bisan Center for Research and Development and the Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees. The designation makes the groups subject to several punitive actions, including freezing their assets and even forcing them to shut down.
H.R. 2590, the “Palestinian Children and Families” bill, introduced in April by McCollum, has also gained cosponsors and now has 32. It is “to promote and protect the human rights of Palestinians living under Israeli military occupation and to ensure that U.S. taxpayer funds are not used by the Government of Israel to support the military detention of Palestinian children, the unlawful seizure, appropriation, and destruction of Palestinian property, and forcible transfer of civilians in the West Bank, or further annexation of Palestinian land in violation of international law.”
The new two-state solution bill, H.R. 5344, has gained some support. Introduced in September by Rep. Andy Levin (D-MI) “to preserve conditions for, and improve the likelihood of, a two-state solution that secures Israel’s future as a democratic state and a national home for the Jewish people, a viable, democratic Palestinian state, an end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories, and peaceful relations between the two states, and to direct the Department of State and other relevant agencies to take steps to accomplish these ends,” it now has 44 all-Democratic cosponsors. This bill could be cause for optimism, but there is little chance that it might be passed.
PRO-ISRAEL BILLS CONTINUE TO PROGRESS
The companion bills “to encourage the normalization of relations with Israel” continue to gain support. H.R. 2748, introduced in April by Rep. Bradley Schneider (D-IL), now has 329 cosponsors. Its companion bill, S. 1061, introduced in March by Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), still has 72 cosponsors.
The bills objecting to reopening the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem have gained cosponsors. S. 3063 introduced by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) in October “to prohibit the use of funds for a U.S. Embassy, Consulate General, Legation, Consular Office, or any other diplomatic facility in Jerusalem other than the U.S. Embassy to the State of Israel,” now has 40 cosponsors. The identical H.R. 6004, introduced in November by Rep. David Kustoff (R-TN) now has 123 Republican cosponsors.
The previously described U.S.-Israel cooperation bills have made scant progress.
H.R. 5148, the “U.S.-Israel Artificial Intelligence Center” bill introduced in September by Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), has gained cosponsors and now has six. The identical S. 2120, introduced by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) in June, still has eight cosponsors. The “U.S.-Israel PTSD Collaborative Research” bills that were introduced in the House and the Senate in February, have not moved. S. 221, introduced by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS), still has nine cosponsors, and H.R. 852, introduced by Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL), still has 65 cosponsors. H.R. 5302, introduced in September by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), to “amend the William M. (Mac) Thornberry National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 to establish a United States-Israel Operations-Technology Working Group,” still has seven cosponsors.
The companion bills that would again try to equate Israel’s colonies on the West Bank or Gaza with Israel have gained no support. H.R. 5356, introduced in September by Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY), still has four cosponsors, and S. 2489, introduced in July by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), still has eight cosponsors. H.Res. 557, introduced in July by Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC), which specifically equates criticizing Israel with anti-Semitism, still has four cosponsors.
NEW IRAN SANCTIONS BILLS INTRODUCED
H.R. 6089, the “Stop Iranian Drones” bill, was introduced Nov. 30 by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX). It was ordered reported out to the full House on Dec. 10. It has 68 cosponsors. The Senate companion bill, S. 3421, was introduced Dec. 16 by Sens. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) and Jim Risch (R-ID). Sen. Patrick Toomey (R-PA) on Dec. 8 introduced S. 3347, “to identify and impose sanctions with respect to persons who are responsible for or complicit in abuses toward dissidents on behalf of the Government of Iran.” It has two cosponsors.
NEW ANTI-PALESTINIAN, ANTI-UNRWA BILLS
S. 3318, introduced Dec. 6 by Cotton, would try to use the banking system to attack the Palestinians. Its stated purpose is “to deter foreign financial institutions from providing banking services for the benefit of foreign terrorist organizations and from facilitating or promoting payments for acts of terrorism,” It has 15 cosponsors. On Nov. 15 Sen John Kennedy (R-LA) introduced S. 3209 “to require the Secretary of State to submit annual reports reviewing the educational material used by the Palestinian Authority in schools.”
None of the previously described anti-Palestinian/anti-UNRWA bills introduced “to withhold U.S. contributions to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)” has gained cosponsors, but a new one, H.R. 6155, modestly titled the “No Tax Dollars for the United Nation’s Immigration Invasion” bill, was introduced Dec. 7 by Rep. Lance Gooden (R-TX). It has 19 all-Republican cosponsors.
MEASURES DISAPPROVING ARMS SALES TO SAUDI ARABIA GO NOWHERE
Companion joint resolutions were introduced disapproving proposed commercial sales of weapons and munitions to Saudi Arabia. H.J.Res. 63 was introduced Nov. 12 by Omar with 16 cosponsors, and S.J.Res.31 was introduced by Paul on Nov. 18 with eight cosponsors. A Dec. 7 motion to discharge S.J.Res. 31 from the SFRC to be brought to the floor for a vote was defeated by a vote of 30-67, effectively killing the resolution.
Shirl McArthur is a retired foreign service officer. He lives in the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
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