Schumer says US Senate will move quickly on Israel
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The Senate will seek to pass a resolution supporting Israel, said Mr Chuck Schumer.
PHOTO: REUTERS
WASHINGTON - Democratic United States Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said on Monday that the Senate will seek within days to pass a resolution supporting Israel, approve additional funds for it, and confirm a new US ambassador to the Jewish state.
Mr Schumer spoke as the Senate opened after he led a small group of Democratic and Republican senators on a weekend visit to Israel, in the wake of a shock Oct 7 attack by Hamas fighters that left 1,400 Israelis dead.
Israel has since put Gaza, home to 2.3 million Palestinians, under a total blockade and pounded it with unprecedented air strikes, and is widely expected to launch a ground assault.
The Gaza authorities say more than 2,800 people have been killed there, around a quarter of them children.
“In the coming days, I will be working with the administration on putting together an emergency supplemental (spending Bill) that will give Israel the tools it needs to defend itself,” Mr Schumer said.
“That means military assistance, intelligence assistance, diplomatic assistance and humanitarian assistance to care for innocent civilians.
“We want to move this package quickly. The Senate must go first. I know that the House is in disarray, but we cannot wait for them,” he added.
Mr Schumer said he thought Senate passage of strong pro-Israel legislation might encourage the House of Representatives to act, despite its leadership impasse.
Support for Israel has historically been bipartisan in the US Congress. Israel currently receives US$3.8 billion (S$5.2 billion) in military assistance a year, under a 10-year aid package passed in 2016.
The Republican-majority House has been without a Speaker since Mr Kevin McCarthy was ousted on Oct 3. That has held up any legislative action, from debating further aid to Ukraine as it battles a Russian invasion, to a statement of support for ally Israel in its war with Hamas.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee scheduled a confirmation hearing for former Treasury secretary Jack Lew, President Joe Biden’s nominee to be the next ambassador to Israel, on Wednesday.
Mr Schumer called Mr Lew “capable and strong”, and urged the committee to approve him as soon as possible, so the full Senate can confirm him “in all due haste”.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, director of national intelligence Avril Haines, Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Charles Brown, will hold a classified briefing on the Middle East conflict for the full Senate on Wednesday. REUTERS
