Dozens of House Democrats are privately threatening to skip Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s March 3 speech to Congress, in which he will address ongoing negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
Vice President Joe Biden, who usually sits next to House Speaker John Boehner during joint sessions of Congress, hasn’t committed to attending either, according to Politico.
President Obama, as well as Biden, have both said they will not meet with the prime minister during his trip to the U.S., citing the Israeli elections on March 17. Secretary of State John Kerry has not made plans to meet with Netanyahu either, a State Department official confirmed Tuesday.
Boehner extended the invite to Netanyahu without first consulting the White House, something that has rubbed many lawmakers the wrong way.
The White House appears to be staying out the congressional speech completely: “We defer to Democratic members if they’d like to attend or not,” an aide said Tuesday.
Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen said he has discussed not going with his fellow colleagues, while others, like New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, say they will attend.
Meanwhile, Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer is on Capitol Hill this week to meet with House Democrats to do “damage control” over the planned speech.
Dermer met Wednesday with Democratic Reps. Nita Lowey, N.Y., Ted Deutch, Fla., Sander Levin, Mich., Steve Israel, N.Y., Jerry Nadler, N.Y., and Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Fla., a source told Politico.
They all had vocally expressed their concerns over Netanyahu’s decision to arrange the speech via Boehner and not the White House.
