Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) slighted the House of Representatives by taking credit for aid to Israel with thanks to codifying relief to the United States’s ally.
Rubio appeared on State of the Union Sunday to comment on the House not having a speaker for going on two weeks. During that time, Hamas has fired thousands of rockets and also sent dozens of fighters into Israel. The first attack came almost a week ago on the first weekend after Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) was ousted from the speaker position. In light of the conflict between Hamas and Israel, some 3,600 have died, among them 29 American citizens.
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“With Israel, much of our aid and support to Israel is codified. We codified it along with my bill along with Senator Coons (D-DE) two years ago,” Rubio explained. “The reason why we codified that support is because I always suspected and feared that a crisis involving Israel would move much faster than the ability of Congress to respond.”
Coons and Rubio successfully passed $3.3 billion in annual security assistance via the National Defense Authorization Act. Rubio cited threats from Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas as the motivation behind the relief effort.
“At some point here soon we will need a speaker and a functioning House, including funding the government in less than 35 days or keep it open and all of that will have to happen,” Rubio said. “I’m not going to try to steer it or influence it. I don’t think I have any influence over what the House does and we’ll be in a situation soon where that won’t be a factor.”
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Currently, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) is in the running for speaker with the endorsement of Reps. Nancy Mace (R-SC), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who voted to oust McCarthy. However, Jordan hasn’t earned the vote of all the eight Republicans who turned against McCarthy, namely Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), while still nabbing the endorsement of fellow Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO). Former President Donald Trump has also endorsed Jordan.
A vote is anticipated Tuesday.
