--- title: House Passes Israel Aid: Challenges Ahead for Johnson description: In the first major legislative task under Mike Johnson, the House approved a GOP plan to provide aid to Israel. But it will likely fail in the Senate. canonical: https://time.com/6331044/house-gop-israel-aid-mike-johnson/ author: Nik Popli article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2023-11-02T22:21:15.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-19T07:28:05.028Z article:section: Politics og:title: Challenges Ahead for New Speaker as House Passes Israel Aid og:description: In the first major legislative task under Mike Johnson, the House approved a GOP plan to provide aid to Israel. But it will likely fail in the Senate. og:url: https://time.com/6331044/house-gop-israel-aid-mike-johnson/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4486e190329a1f38/698a41ee096a94741d6ae496/GettyImages-1770866414.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: House Republican Caucus Members Meet On Capitol Hill og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Challenges Ahead for New Speaker as House Passes Israel Aid twitter:description: In the first major legislative task under Mike Johnson, the House approved a GOP plan to provide aid to Israel. But it will likely fail in the Senate. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4486e190329a1f38/698a41ee096a94741d6ae496/GettyImages-1770866414.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Challenges Ahead for New Speaker as House Passes Israel Aid > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. 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It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=c2cecd83-3fba-432b-b2d1-88efb35676af&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: House Democrats Call Speaker Johnson's Aid for Israel 'Bad Precedent' [Watch (HLS stream): House Democrats Call Speaker Johnson's Aid for Israel 'Bad Precedent'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vNcvrP2R.m3u8) (3:01)  _Published 2023-11-02. House Democratic leaders call new Speaker Mike Johnson's legislative plan for emergency aid to Israel, bad for national security, and propose a no-vote on the measure._  by [Nik Popli](https://time.com/author/nik-popli/)  ## Nik Popli Staff Writer Nov 2, 2023 10:21 PM UTC House Democratic leaders call new Speaker Mike Johnson's legislative plan for emergency aid to Israel, bad for national security, and propose a no-vote on the measure.  by [Nik Popli](https://time.com/author/nik-popli/)  ## Nik Popli Staff Writer Nov 2, 2023 10:21 PM UTC In the first major legislative task under newly elected Speaker [Mike Johnson](https://time.com/6329868/mike-johnsons-election-end-of-reagans-gop/), the House on Thursday approved a Republican plan to provide $14.3 billion in aid to [Israel](https://time.com/6330832/israel-after-october-7-attacks-trauma/) in its war against Hamas. But by ignoring President Joe Biden’s request to pair it with aid for Ukraine, the House is heading for a collision with the Democratic-led Senate. The House GOP bill, which passed 226-196, would provide military funding for Israel by cutting an equal amount in planned spending for tax enforcement at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), an initiative that Biden championed as part of his signature Inflation Reduction Act. The measure now faces bipartisan opposition in the Senate, where most lawmakers favor packaging aid for Israel with money to help Ukraine fend off Russia’s invasion. Biden had requested a $105 billion package that would couple aid for both countries and also bolster security along the U.S.-Mexico border, security aid for Taiwan and a fund for humanitarian assistance in hot spots around the world. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the Senate would not consider the House bill, deeming it a "deeply flawed proposal" during a floor speech on Thursday. He said the Senate would craft its own bipartisan bill containing aid for Israel and Ukraine, as well as humanitarian aid to Gaza, which was not included in the House GOP bill. If House Republicans’ Israel aid bill faces almost certain defeat in the Senate, Johnson may find himself in a similar political bind to his Speaker predecessor Kevin McCarthy, caught between Democrats and the far-right members of his own party. [McCarthy was booted from the speakership](https://time.com/6320197/in-dramatic-vote-mccarthy-becomes-first-house-speaker-to-be-ousted-in-u-s-history/) after working with Democrats to avert a government shutdown. If Johnson attempts to do the same, to pass aid for Israel or to stave off the next shutdown, he may risk the same fate. But if he doesn’t, he has little hope of passing legislation. Hardline Republicans have signaled that they may give Johnson more breathing room on fiscal issues than McCarthy, though the chamber is behind schedule on keeping the government funded and remains under urgent pressure to approve aid to Israel and Ukraine. “It still mystifies me that when the world is in crisis and we need to help Israel respond to Hamas, the GOP thought it was a good idea to tie Israel aid to a hard-right proposal that will raise the deficit and is totally, totally partisan,” Schumer said. The House's decision to provide substantial aid to Israel comes as the nation continues to grapple with the conflict against [Hamas](https://time.com/6330005/the-oct-7-massacre-revealed-a-new-hamas-social-media-strategy/), the militant group that carried out [terrorist attacks](https://time.com/6330299/holocaust-survivors-israel-hamas-war/) on Oct. 7\. Israel has since launched [retaliatory attacks in Gaza](https://time.com/6330157/israel-gaza-invasion-essay/) and the [death toll](https://time.com/6328885/gaza-death-toll-explainer/) in the region is climbing. Most of the funding in the GOP measure is intended to help Israel strengthen its weapons systems, including $4 billion to replenish the Iron Dome and David’s Sling missile defense systems to counter short-range rocket threats. It also includes $200 million for enhancing the security presence at the U.S. Embassy and the evacuation of U.S. citizens. But the bill also leaves out [humanitarian aid for Gaza](https://time.com/6330481/thakla-grief-gaza-israeli-airstrikes/), which Biden had requested and some Democrats consider a nonstarter. The vote on Thursday presented a difficult choice for many pro-Israel Democrats, who were eager to support Israel in its time of crisis but were hesitant to back a bill that omitted provisions for Ukraine and humanitarian aid, while targeting their domestic policy priorities. Still, a dozen Democrats voted in support of the House GOP bill, asserting the urgency of delivering aid to Israel without delay and setting the stage for a prolonged standoff with the Senate. Johnson defended the legislation on Thursday, maintaining that the decision to pair the aid to Israel with spending cuts was a fiscal rather than political choice. "I did not attach that for political purposes,” he said at a press conference. “I attached it because, again, we're trying to get back to the principle of fiscal responsibility here." The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office contradicted this reasoning, stating that the spending cuts proposed in the bill would increase the deficit by $12.5 billion over the next decade due to reduced revenue collections. Johnson said the House would address a Ukraine aid package after dealing with Israel, but he also emphasized that it would need to be attached to stricter border security provisions, further complicating the prospects for Ukraine funding in Washington. "Ukraine will come in short order, it will come next," Johnson said. "And you've heard me say that we want to pair border security with Ukraine... If we're going to take care of a border in Ukraine, we need to take care of America's border as well." ## Transcript [00:00] Regarding Israel while House Republicans are leading our probes [00:03] were also leading the charge to support our cherished friend [00:06] and last week and one of my first acts as Speaker. [00:09] We passed a resolution reaffirming our commitment to Israel [00:12] and its moment of peril and now is his robe against the next [00:15] phase of its War. [00:16] It's been kind of disturbing to us of her Democrats suggest [00:20] there needs to be a ceasefire. [00:21] Let us be clear. [00:22] We've been very clear about this. [00:23] There was a ceasefire is before October 7th and Hamas broken [00:28] and Israeli suffered unspeakable acts of evil as you've heard [00:31] even recounted her this morning Israel doesn't need a ceasefire [00:34] and needs its allies to cease with a politics and deliver [00:38] support now and that's what we're doing House Republicans [00:41] plan to do that. [00:42] We're going to do it in short order. [00:43] It provides is really ate it needs to defend itself or gets [00:46] hostages and eradicate, which is a mission that must be accomplished [00:50] all of this all of this while we also work to ensure responsible [00:55] spending and reduce the size of the federal government [00:58] to pay for that commitment to We have obligations and we have [01:02] commitments and we want to protect and help and assist our friend [01:06] Israel, but we have to keep our own house in order as well. [01:10] And I think people at home I think American people understand [01:13] that it home. [01:13] You have to balance your budget at home. [01:15] You have to make tough decisions and Washington should run the [01:19] same way. And so we are here to change the environment [01:21] to change the Paradigm The Way Washington thinks if we continue [01:25] on the trajectory, we're on it's going to hurt our country [01:27] terribly the greatest threats we face or through extremism [01:31] and partisanship and we're seeing that play out with our new [01:35] speaker today this time. [01:38] They're seeking to condition life-saving age is real for the [01:42] sole purpose of making it making it easier for billionaires [01:45] to cheat on their taxes. [01:47] We're learning a lot about this new speaker this week with these [01:51] first legislative decisions, and this has been a complete [01:55] and total disaster. [01:57] We look forward to working in a bipartisan way to send Aid to [02:02] our allies abroad a bit. [02:05] This bill today is not that vehicle committing a no-go because [02:09] this is bad for National Security. [02:11] It's a bad precedent to set it cost resources, [02:15] but we have never conditioned emergency aid like we have done [02:22] under speaker Johnson this week. [02:24] This is wrong. [02:26] This is wrong for Israelis. [02:28] This is wrong for the region. [02:29] It's important that we carry on our work that we looked you to [02:35] help our allies in this respect is real in Ukraine and making sure [02:39] that we have robust funding on the humanitarian [02:42] side to some of our policy a differences have to do with timing [02:47] and making sure the fact that Republicans Advanced this bill [02:50] without humanitarian funding is deeply problematic to too many [02:55] of us within the Democratic caucus. 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