Does the House of Representatives need a speaker for Israel aid?
- The House cannot conduct legislative work without an elected speaker
- This may put aid to Israel and refugees fleeing Gaza at risk
- Rep. Patrick McHenry was appointed speaker pro tempore last week
An overhead view of the US House of Representatives, 2023 (Nexstar)
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WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — As Republicans in the House of Representatives continue to try and elect a speaker, there are concerns about whether financial aid can be sent to Israel without a speaker to bring about votes.
Can the U.S. continue to send aid to Israel without a speaker of the House?
Congress appropriated $3.8 billion to Israel for foreign military financing in fiscal year 2023 under the Consolidated Appropriations Act.
That money has already been approved by Congress and is readily available to Israel.
If that is depleted, however, a speaker of the House would be necessary in order to bring about a vote on whether to provide more financial assistance to Israel.
What about civilians fleeing Gaza?
Since April 2021, the U.S. has given more than half a billion dollars in assistance to the Palestinians, including more than $417 million in humanitarian assistance for Palestinian refugees.
In March of 2022, The U.S. intended to provide an additional $75 million in economic assistance to the Palestinian people this year.
The status of those funds is unclear.
What comes next?
Since the abrupt appointment of Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., to speaker pro tempore last week following the unprecedented ouster of Kevin McCarthy, McHenry has been tight-lipped about how he views his role. He has since wielded the gavel with care, making no attempts to test the limits of his unusual role.
“There is some thought that in the interest of national security — because we’re in a dangerous time and we have to get a national security aid package to Israel — that we could somehow empower McHenry to have more authorities,” said Rep. Michael McCaul, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee.
McCaul is pushing for action on a bipartisan resolution to express support for Israel. Under normal circumstances, such legislation, which bears no weight of law, would pass easily. But McCaul and others have had to contemplate arcane legislative procedures just to push it to the floor, underscoring just how dysfunctional the House has become.
Some Republicans are pushing for McHenry to bring the Israel resolution to the House floor, arguing that it is within his scope of powers because the resolution has no force of law.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
