The House GOP Tries to Use Israel to Divide Senate Democrats

House Republicans don’t have any actual legislative leverage to force a vote on freeing the aid to Israel that Biden blocked, but they’re ramping up the political pressure.

Elise Stefanik, Mike Johnson, Tom Emmer

House Speaker Mike Johnson speaks to reporters about President Joe Biden pausing a shipment of bombs to Israel. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

When House Republicans passed a bill Thursday mandating that President Joe Biden deliver all of the military aid to Israel that Congress recently approved — including the bombs that Biden blocked in response to Israel going on the offensive in the southern part of Gaza — it looked like a classic political maneuver to divide House Democrats.

Now, House Republicans are running a similar play on Democrats in the Senate too.

House GOP leaders are ramping up a pressure campaign to get the Senate to take up the Israel bill, even as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer swears his chamber won’t give the legislation a vote.