President Biden would veto a funding bill that includes Israel funding alone and does not have money for Ukraine in its fight against Russian invaders, the White House confirmed Thursday, putting the administration on a collision course with the GOP-led House.
“The president would veto an only-Israel bill, I think that we’ve made that clear,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at a White House briefing.
The administration dug in while House Republican leaders get set to vote on a $14-billion bill that would fund Israel’s fight and is paid for by clawing back Mr. Biden’s new funding for the IRS.
The House’s Israel aid package is a response to President Biden’s $106 billion emergency funding request that would fund several national security initiatives.
It is unclear whether Congress can work through its differences, since Democrats in the House and Senate are balking at Israel-only funding and Mr. Biden is threatening a veto.
Mr. Kirby said Mr. Biden was very deliberate in requesting money for Israel, Ukraine, the U.S.-Mexico border and security in the Indo-Pacific all at once.
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“All four are important,” Mr. Kirby said. “The whole idea of an urgent supplemental is you’re submitting what you think are urgent requests, and the president wants to see all of them honored, all of them acted on by Congress.”
The White House had signaled on Tuesday it planned to veto the House Israel-funding bill in a statement of administration policy.
However, Mr. Kirby’s comments solidified Mr. Biden’s demand to fund all of his priorities as House Speaker Mike Johnson forges ahead with the Isreal-only bill.
The comments also sent a clear signal to Democrats in Congress who want to vote in line with the president’s wishes.
Earlier this year, some Democrats were upset when Mr. Biden decided to sign a bill that killed a local overhaul of the D.C. criminal code. They had been under the impression Mr. Biden planned to veto the GOP-driven bill.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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