An Iron Dome battery fires a Tamir missile. (File)
WASHINGTON: After several days of consternation among pro-Israeli lawmakers, the White House and Israeli leadership, the House today passed a stand-alone bill authorizing $1 billion in funding for Iron Dome munitions.
The bill passed by a whopping 420-9 margin, with eight Democrats and one Republican voting against the action.
The money would help Israel replenish its supply of Tamir interceptors, which are the primary munition for the air defense system. Israeli stocks have been drained due to the conflict between Israel and Palestine earlier this year, when Iron Dome was used extensively against an estimated 4,000 rockets launched by Hamas.
The issue popped up earlier in the week when Democrats included the Iron Dome funding as part of their Continuing Resolution stopgap spending bill. Normally, arms for Israel are a bipartisan issue that sails through with little opposition.
However, Republicans plan to vote en bloc against the CR bill as structured, meaning congressional Democrats had only a thin margin to pass the language. A small handful of progressive Democrats pounced and announced they would not vote for the CR with the Iron Dome funding in it, and after some back and forth, the Israeli funding was stripped out. It was later introduced as stand-alone legislation.
What was a small, inter-party squabble created enough agita in Israel that Foreign Minister Yair Lapid spoke to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., about the issue. The White House has backed the Iron Dome replenishment funding, with President Joe Biden having pledged “his administration’s full support for replenishing Israel’s Iron Dome system,” per a readout of an August meeting with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
The funding now moves to the Senate, where it is expected to face little resistance.
“Iron Dome is very important and it’ll get done. That’s all I’m going to say,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., told Defense News on Thursday morning.
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