Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024

Floor Speech

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Mr. CLYDE. Mr. Speaker, I will always stand with our greatest ally in the Middle East, Israel, but I rise today to express my serious concerns with a very flawed supplemental.

In November, I supported the first security supplemental for Israel, which was financially paid for and would have provided weapons and equipment for Israel's fight against Hamas. The cost was offset by rescinding the Democrats' unprecedented expansion of the IRS.

Today, we are considering a vastly different bill, one that is all borrowing, another $26 billion of debt with no rescissions.

The legislation also contains $400 million for FEMA, which has nothing to do with supporting Israel, and over $9 billion for humanitarian aid in Hamas-controlled Gaza and the West Bank.

A report from The Heritage Foundation stated: ``The problem with aid diversion to Hamas and other terrorist groups plagues all international and nongovernmental aid organizations operating in Gaza. . . .

``It is therefore highly likely that U.S. taxpayer-funded humanitarian aid to Gaza, including some of the aid in this bill, would again be diverted to support further Hamas attacks against Israel.''

Why would we knowingly be sending money into the hands of Hamas in any bill? If we are feeding Gaza, we are feeding Hamas. Therefore, with great disappointment, I cannot in good conscience vote for this bill.

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