Cantor suggests separate funding account for aid to Israel

If Republicans seize control of the House of Representatives next week -- as polls suggest they will -- under the Constitution one of their most critical tasks will be to craft the initial funding bills for the U.S. government. One account, foreign aid to Israel, might prove problematic because many GOP lawmakers have routinely voted against foreign aid bills.

Now Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Virg.) -- the presumptive majority leader if the polls are correct --has floated a novel solution to protect aid for Israel from the current foreign aid backlash: giving the Jewish state its own funding account, thus removing it from funds for the rest of the world.

"Part of the dilemma is that Israel has been put in the overall foreign aid looping," he told JTA, a Jewish news agency. "I'm hoping we can see some kind of separation in terms of tax dollars going to Israel."

Cantor, the only Jewish Republican in the House, said that the Republican leadership would seek to defund nations that do not share U.S. interests. Israel in 2010 received $2.8 billion in aid from the United States, making it the largest part of the foreign aid budget.

One possibility would be to shift Israel's aid to the Pentagon budget. Almost all of Israel's aid is military in nature, with almost a quarter of its military budget underwritten by U.S. taxpayers.

Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY), the current chair of the Appropriations Committee panel that crafts the foreign aid budget, was dismayed by Cantor's proposal, which she blasted in an email.

"Because it is inextricably linked with broader U.S. national security goals, separating assistance for Israel in order to make it easier for Republican members to vote against the foreign aid bill would be counterproductive," Lowey said. "Too much is at stake to give Republicans in Congress a license to vote against the foreign aid budget, and it is clear that Eric Cantor's outrageous proposal is based purely on political motives, not what is best for U.S. or global security."



