Overview
- House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told colleagues on Tuesday that he will vote against Rep. Thomas Massie’s amendment to strip roughly $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing for Israel and that Democratic leadership will not whip the vote.
- Massie’s amendment would bar about $3.3 billion of the roughly $3.8 billion the U.S. provides annually to Israel and contains no carveouts, which Jeffries and others say could also curtail humanitarian programs, refugee resettlement and U.S. embassy operations.
- Progressive leaders plan to use the recorded vote as a public rebuke of the Netanyahu government while centrist and pro‑Israel Democrats warn the measure is too broad, and the amendment is widely seen as unlikely to pass the full Congress.
- Jeffries said the U.S. should renegotiate security ties when the current 10‑year memorandum of understanding expires in 2028, keeping Israel’s qualitative military edge while conditioning future cooperation on human‑rights standards.
- Advocacy groups reacted splitly — liberal J Street supported Jeffries’ approach, AIPAC and other pro‑Israel groups praised his opposition — and the episode could deepen intra‑party tensions and shape how Democrats handle U.S. policy on Israel going into the next MOU talks.