The House Rules Committee canceled a planned vote on an amendment to block US funding for the IDF on Tuesday after intense debate among House Democrats.
Congress had blocked the vote, despite previous reports that the House Rules Committee had marked the amendment as “Made in Order,” meaning it was approved to receive floor consideration and a vote, said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California), a co-sponsor of the bill.
“It is unconscionable to not even have a vote,” she wrote on X/Twitter. “We will be continuing on and will not be intimidated by the pro-Israel lobby.”
The bill, which was co-sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky), was poorly drafted, according to one of the Democrats.
The bill, in its current form, could block both military and diplomatic funding to Israel, the source said.
Democratic Party faces debate on Israel support
Another Democrat said much of the force behind the bill had stemmed from a debate on whether to cut support for Israel out of the Democratic Party’s platform.
“Both sides got expressed,” the source said. “You had different members who are going to vote for it, some against it.”
Rep. Julie Johnson (D-Texas) said the debate over support for Israel was a controversial issue.
“As you would expect, people have belief structures on both sides, and they certainly expressed that, which is what caucus is about,” she said. “People were just sharing how they felt.”
Massie submitted an amendment to current law that would prohibit any funds in the bill from being used for Israel and would cut $3.3 billion from the Foreign Military Financing account.
Mathilda Heller contributed to this report.