House Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-MA) announced Wednesday morning that she will support an effort from Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to cut off U.S. aid to Israel.
Clark’s support for the amendment puts her at odds with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), who told Democrats he would vote against the amendment in a Dear Colleague letter, and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), who told reporters he is also a no. Massie’s amendment would prohibit money from the annual National Security, Department of State, and related programs appropriations bill from being used for Israel.
Jeffries has described the amendment as “overly broad” and said it could limit “humanitarian aid, refugee resettlement, peace-building and U.S. embassy operations.”
While Clark is voting opposite of Jeffries, she echoed his sentiment that Massie’s amendment is too broad, saying it is “not an attempt to have a serious and necessary debate about offensive military aid to Israel.”
Clark said the amendment, which was made in order for consideration on the House floor by the House Rules Committee on Monday, is “more stunts from Congressional Republicans who would rather score cheap political points than lead.”
Still, Clark said she would support the amendment in order to change the “status quo.”
“I will be voting yes, not because I agree with the entirety of the amendment, or the GOP’s cynical motivations for its consideration, but because I believe we must change course,” Clark wrote. “While Democratic Members will make different decisions on this amendment in good faith, we are absolutely united in our shared goal of permanent peace.”
Clark also broke with Jeffries earlier this year when she decided to not attend President Donald Trump’s State of the Union in February.
Israel has become a splintering issue in the Democratic Party, particularly on the left flank, and a large chunk of Democrats are expected to vote for the amendment.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told reporters on Tuesday that it was hard to estimate how many of her colleagues will support Massie’s amendment, but said she “wouldn’t be surprised if it was quite large because I don’t think this is just an ideological issue.”
JEFFRIES THWARTS THE LEFT, OPPOSES ENDING ALL AID TO ISRAEL
“I don’t think this is just a lefty thing,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “I think this is affecting people all across the board, and I think that independent voters care a lot about this too.”
“I think it’s not just the movement within the Democratic Party,” she added. “I think this is how Americans are moving.”