mcarthur_32-33r.qxp_Congress Watch 2/3/22 3:16 PM Page 32
Congress Watch
Congress Passes Final FY ‘22 NDAA, Including More Millions for Israel
By Shirl McArthur
$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 JACK GUEZ/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
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 DeAn 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 Lauro (D-CT) in September introduced H.R. 5323, the contributed $7 billion to Israel’s missile defense systems, in addition to $4 billion in aid annually. stand-alone “Iron Dome Supplemental Appropriations” bill to appropriate the $1 billion for Israel. It passed the House on Sept. THE SENATE FINALLY passed a revised version of S. 1605, the 23 under “suspension of the rules” by a vote of 420-9, with two voting National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for FY 2022. The bill “present.” started in the House as H.R. 4350, and was passed in that form by But H.R. 5323 has not moved in the Senate where it has been the House on Sept. 23. But that went nowhere in the Senate. After blocked by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) who wants it to be paid for by much behind-the-scenes negotiations, a new version was inserted cutting funding for Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. On Dec. 15, Sen. into a previously-introduced, obscure bill, S. 1605, and the new verRichard Blumenthal (D-CT) for the fourth time sought unanimous sion was passed by the House on Dec. 7, passed by the Senate consent to bring the bill to the floor to be voted on, and for the fourth on Dec. 15, and signed by President Joe Biden on Dec. 27 as PL time Paul objected. He had introduced S. 2944, the “Funding Iron 117-81. Dome by Defunding the Taliban” bill in October. In arguing for his Notably, the final bill does not include the provision, included in bill on the Senate floor, Paul raised the objections of many House the earlier version, authorizing $1 billion in supplemental funding for members who do so privately rather than publicly so as to not be Israel to replenish the short-range Iron Dome missile defense labeled “anti-Semitic.” He said, “the billion dollars under considerasystem used during the May 2021 fighting between Israel and tion today is on top of the more than $1.6 billion the United States Hamas. However, it does authorize $200 million in procurements has already given for Iron Dome, and that is not all. The United for Israel, comprised of $108 billion for Iron Dome, $30 million for States provides Israel with just under $4 billion in aid annually. To David’s Sling and $62 million for Arrow 3. In addition, it authorizes date, the United States has provided over $146 billion in aid to Israel. $300 million for so-called “U.S.-Israel cooperative programs,” and In addition to Iron Dome the United States has helped Israel fund other missile defense systems as well. We spent $2 billion on Shirl McArthur is a retired foreign service officer. He lives in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. David’s Sling and $3.7 billion on Arrow programs. That means the 32
WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS
MARCH/APRIL 2022
