The Senate on Tuesday passed legislation aimed at boosting Israel’s defense capabilities and also urges President Trump to halt his plan to withdraw troops from Syria and Afghanistan.
“This represents the broad consensus of this body about our nation’s responsibilities as an ally and a partner,” said Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., before the Senate voted.
The Senate backed up that assessment, as the bill passed in an easy 77-23 vote.
Senators acted just a few hours before President Trump’s scheduled State of the Union address in which he is expected to hold firm on his plan to draw down the U.S. military presence in Syria and Afghanistan. McConnell sponsored the language dealing with those two war-torn nations, which has been widely viewed as an unusual GOP rebuke of Trump’s foreign policy position.
The amendment is included in a Middle East security measure aimed at bolstering the defense posture of both Israel and Jordan, two key Middle East allies. The bill includes language opposed by some Democrats that would allow states to stop working with companies that support the Palestinian-backed boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement to boycott Israeli businesses.
While Congress generally supports pro-Israel legislation, this bill found some opposition in the Senate.
“While I do not support the BDS movement, we must defend every American’s constitutional right to engage in political activity,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said. “It is clear to me that this bill would violate Americans’ First Amendment rights.”
The measure reauthorizes foreign military financing and precision-guided munition transfers to Israel and lets the Treasury Department impose sanctions if it finds the Central Bank of Syria is engaging in money laundering.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., who backed the overall bill, voted last week against McConnell’s amendment urging the president to reconsider the Afghanistan and Syria draw down.
Kennedy called on McConnell to hold a briefing with the military and senators to give them more information on the costs and benefits of staying in the two countries. There is a lot of uncertainty about the U.S. role and expenditures used to try to stabilize the Middle East, Kennedy said.
“I share the president’s concern about nation building,” Kennedy said Tuesday. “We’ve only spent, what, $6 trillion since 2001 in the Middle East? I share the president’s concern about mission creep but once again, just as I’m not saying that Sen. McConnell is wrong, I just don’t know that he’s quite right. Frankly, I’m saying the same thing with respect to President Trump.”
