On Thursday, the House approved a bill to provide $1 billion for Israel’s Iron Dome and nine members voted against it.
The decision has come after House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer came forward with a separate bill for Israel’s Iron Dome.
CNN has reported that the US had provided $1.6 billion to the country for things such as batteries and interceptors, according to Congressional Research Service.
But who voted against the bill?
What is Israel’s Iron Dome?
On Thursday (September 23rd), the House approved a bill for the Israel Iron Dome missile defense system.
The bill will give $1 billion to Israel to replace missile interceptors the country used to keep off rockets fired from Gaza after the conflict in May.
According to a press release, the funding “is consistent with the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding between the United States and Israel, which commits the United States to providing additional assistance to replenish the Iron Dome after periods of fighting to allow Israel to continue to defend itself from attack.”
The bill passed with a final vote of 420-9 with two present.
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Who voted against Iron Dome?
Eight Democrats and one Republican voted against the bill.
The negative votes came from Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Ayanna Pressley, Cori Bush, André Carson, Marie Newman, Raúl Grijalva, Chuy Garcia and Thomas Massie.
Meanwhile, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hank Johnson voted present.
Reps explain why they voted against the bill
Speaking to Boston Globe, Ayanna Pressley said that she wasn’t against Israel to protect its citizens but she disapproved the bill because of the short notice that representatives were given.
“If we can’t move with urgency on critical domestic spending in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, there’s no reason we should move this way on military spending,” she said.
US Representative for Minnesota Ilhan Omar took to Twitter and wrote: “Given the human rights violations in Gaza, Sheikh Jarrah, and ever-growing settlement expansion, we should not be ramming through a last-minute $1 billion increase in military funding for Israel without any accountability.”
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