Rep. David Trone, Co-Chair of the House Abraham Accords Caucus, Condemns Conditional Aid for Israel
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2023
Contact: Sasha Galbreath, Sasha.Galbreath@mail.house.gov
Rep. David Trone, Co-Chair of the House Abraham Accords Caucus, Condemns Conditional Aid for Israel
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Congressman David Trone (D-MD), co-chair and co-founder of the House Abraham Accords Caucus and member of the House Committee on Appropriations, announced his opposition to Speaker Mike Johnson’s security package for Israel, which includes a partisan pay-for that would cut vital funding for tax enforcement for millionaire and billionaire tax cheats:
“When Europe needed to recover after World War II, the United States heeded the call and delivered one of the largest foreign aid packages in modern history through the Marshall Plan to rebuild brick by brick, board by board.
“In the early 2000s, our country established the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to combat AIDS/HIV, which at that time was the leading cause of death across the continent of Africa. Twenty years later, it’s credited with saving over 25 million lives and counting.
“Amid the death and destruction caused by Hamas across Israel and Gaza, we must step up – as we have throughout history – without partisanship or strings attached to defend our allies under attack and help innocent Israeli, Palestinian, and Ukrainian civilians.
“The security package proposed by Speaker Johnson sets a dangerous precedent that when America’s allies ask for our help in their darkest hours, we haggle the terms.
“I urge House Republicans to pass a clean, bipartisan package – as supported by both the President and the Senate – to deliver both military support and humanitarian aid to our allies. When it comes to helping our neighbors, defending democracy, and saving innocent lives, we cannot and will not negotiate.”
Background:
- The Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act would send $14.3 billion in security-only aid to Israel without addressing funding requests for the war in Ukraine.
- The bill would pay for the spending with $14.5 billion in cuts to the long-understaffed Internal Revenue Service.
- This week, the Congressional Budget Office reported the IRS cuts coupled with the Israel aid would lead to a $26.8 billion decline in revenue and add more than $30 billion to the debt.
Congressman David Trone was elected to the House of Representatives in November 2018 to serve the 6th District of Maryland, which includes all or part of Montgomery, Frederick, Washington, Allegany, and Garrett Counties. Trone serves on the Appropriations, Budget, and Joint Economic Committees. In Congress, Trone is fighting to make progress on issues that matter to Marylanders.
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