New Congress in Place, Partisan Sparring Threatens to Stall Middle East Funding Bill

Much of the attention of Congress-watchers is focused on the House side because the majority has flipped back to the Democrats. But while Mideast-watchers on the House side debate the future of Israel as a consensus issue while high-profile critics of the Jewish state are seated, the Senate chamber will be the first venue for an all-out fight on an issue emanating from the Middle East. Designated S.1 – the first bill of the new Senate – Republicans on Tuesday will try to pass the “Strengthening America’s Security in the Middle East Act,” a bipartisan amalgam of bills sponsored by both parties that would enact the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding with Israel that was negotiated by the Obama administration. In addition to authorizing the $3.3 billion in annual aid for the Jewish state, it would bring issues of space, the world of cybersecurity and defense against drone warfare under the umbrella of U.S. assistance. Also considered important to Jerusalem as tensions with Iranian terror-proxy Hizbullah continue to rise, is the precision-guided weaponry the bill allows to be stockpiled in Israel by the United States for use by Israel if there is an attack by the Beirut-based terrorists against the Jewish state. But Democratic leadership is rolling out the parliamentarians to try to outmaneuver the Republicans and freeze the bill until full government operation is restored. And it’s not just Israel that is affected by a freeze. Jordan is the recipient of the re-authorization of the United States – Jordan Defense Cooperation Act of 2015, but that legislation and the package of sanctions against Syrian strongman Bashar Al-Assad will remain frozen if the Dems are successful in halting all legislative action. While the battle laid out above relates to the government freeze rather than the bill and its provisions, there is a substantive fight over the bill authored by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl) that would make participation in the anti-Israel Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement illegal. Led by freshman Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the lawmakers opposing the bill are at odds with Republicans as well as most of their own Democratic party.