Democratic senators block Republican effort to force immediate vote on House-passed $14 billion in aid to Israel, including billions to rebuild Iron Dome that saved the country from an Iranian missile attack

Democratic senators killed an Israeli independence bill’s chances for quick passage in the Senate on Monday night.

Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., requested unanimous consent to quickly pass a $14 billion House-passed relief package — offset by cuts to the IRS — and another $17 billion measure ( which failed in the House) for the embattled US ally, but Democrats objected.

The bills include about $4 billion to rebuild Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, which intercepts ‘99%’ of Iran’s weekend drone strikes.

It comes as the White House has made clear that President Joe Biden does not support an aid package just for Israel, but Speaker Mike Johnson has said he will put Ukraine and Israel on the House floor separately.

Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., requested unanimous consent to quickly pass a $17.6 billion aid package for the embattled U.S. ally, but Democrats object

Johnson decided on Monday to push three separate bills this week to send billions to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, DailyMail.com confirmed.

A fourth bill will reportedly include several measures, such as requiring TikTok to divest from its Chinese-owned parent company, an attempt to obtain seized Russian assets, a lend-lease program for military aid to Ukraine, and also loans for humanitarian aid.

All four bills would be lumped together under the same “rule” to bring them to the House floor for final passage this week before going to the Senate.

Iranian missiles fired into Israel as seen on Iranian television

An anti-missile system works after Iran launched drones and missiles at Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel April 14, 2024

Johnson put the Israel-only aid package on the floor of Parliament in February, but it failed to get the two-thirds majority it needed to be suspended.

“We will try again this week and the details of that package are being put together right now,” he said. ‘We are looking at the possibilities and all these additional issues.’

The House passed a $14 billion aid package for Israel in October, but the deal was offset by cuts in IRS funding that led to its death in the Democrat-led Senate.

Conservative hardliners have warned Johnson against tying any Ukraine funding to an Israeli aid bill. Johnson has been tight-lipped about how he would like to move forward, but called an emergency meeting of all Republicans on Monday night.

“Under no circumstances will the House Freedom Caucus stand by using the emergency in Israel as a false justification to hit aid to Ukraine without compensation and without security for our own wide-open borders,” the conservative hardliner Freedom Caucus said in a statement. Monday.

Israel has deemed Iran’s 350 missile strikes a ‘declaration of war’, although it said 99 percent of the missiles were intercepted.

The strike was in response to Israel’s drone strike in Syria that killed 12 Iranians, including two top generals.