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Congress Delivers Promised Israel Aid Bump Despite Budget Deadlock

http://www.forward.com/articles/13709/
Congress Delivers Promised Israel
Aid Bump Despite Budget Deadlock
Move Bypasses Normal Appropriation Process
By Nathan Guttman
Wed. Jul 02, 2008

Washington -

While almost all federally financed
programs were denied any funding
increase for the coming year,

aid to Israel from the United States
will increase thanks to a legislative
loophole and some deft maneuvering by
pro-Israel lobbyists.

Congress bypassed the normal appropriation
process on June 26 when it approved a
$170 million raise in military aid to Israel,
as part of a larger supplemental spending bill.

The increase contrasts with the standstill
in budgeting for almost all other government
programs.

Due to fighting between Democrats and
Republicans over the federal budget,
most government spending will be
held in what is known as a
"continuous resolution,"

which maintains all spending at the
same level as in the previous fiscal
year and allows no raise in government
spending.

Aid to Israel would normally be
covered by this resolution,
but legislators made the aid
into an amendment to special
legislation covering funding
for the military efforts in
Iraq and Afghanistan.

According to an official in the
Washington pro-Israel community,
the only other instance in which
aid to Israel went through this
channel was after the first Gulf
War, 16 years ago.

The move was quickly applauded by
the American Israel Public Affairs
Committee.

"The effort to secure this vital
increase in American aid to our
ally Israel could not have happened
without the active support of the
bipartisan leadership of the House
and Senate and Aipac applauds their
effort,"

Aipac spokesman Josh Block said
in a statement published following
the aid increase approval.

Israel had been promised a bump in
military aid before the current
wrangling over the budget.

Last August, Jerusalem and Washington
signed an agreement that should direct
$30 billion to Israel over 10 years.

For the agreement to actually
turn into cash for Israel,
Congress is required to
appropriate the money.

This legislative process has
become increasingly difficult
to complete in recent years,
since Republican and Democratic
lawmakers could not find common
ground on spending bills.

A continuous resolution this year
would have put the promised increase
in aid in jeopardy and would have left
the implementation of the new aid package
in the hands of a new administration and
new Congress.

The first indication of the special
maneuvers came at the annual conference
of Aipac, when House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi took the podium.

"I don't know if Harry or John
Boehner told you this earlier,"

Pelosi said in her June 4 address,
referring to Senate majority leader
Harry Reid and House Minority leader
John Boehner,

"but the first installment
of this increase, $170 million,
will be in the supplemental
appropriation bill the House
will consider soon, in fact,
that we are considering now,
so we can expedite this."

The pro-Israel community's desire
to see the aid increase, even in
the face of a Continuous Resolution
had been raised earlier by members
of Norpac,

a New Jersey-based pro-Israel
political action group, in a
lobbying day they held May 21.

But a source following the issue
closely said Aipac leaders were
surprised by Pelosi's pledge,
saying it was an initiative
that came from the highest
congressional ranks.

On June 19, Aipac's director of
legislative policy and strategy
briefed congressional staffers
and explained the need for
increasing foreign aid to Israel,

stressing that the Jewish state's
expenses on security are higher
than any other country in the
industrialized world because
of the threats it faces.

Bipartisan support for bypassing
legislative hurdles was apparent
in the June 27 Senate vote,
which tallied 92 supporters
and only six senators opposing
the bill.

Aid to Jordan and Mexico are
the two other foreign military
assistance items included in the bill.

The $170 million raise to Israel will
bring the overall military funding to
$2.38 billion - the highest of any such package.

The new aid to Israel is part of a larger
deal which includes multi-billion-dollar
arms deals with Saudi Arabia and Gulf countries,
all aimed at strengthening nations seen as crucial
in curbing Iran's influence in the region.

That package is an arms deal and does
not require the appropriation of any funds.

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