Democrat senators quash Republican effort to force immediate vote on House-passed $14 billion in aid to Israel including billions to replenish the Iron Dome that saved the country from an assault of Iranian missiles

Democratic senators killed a standalone Israel bill's chances of quick passage in the Senate on Monday night.  

Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., requested unanimous consent to quickly pass a House-passed $14 billion aid package - offset by cuts to the IRS - and another $17 billion measure (that failed in the House) for the embattled U.S. ally, but Democrats objected.

The bills include some $4 billion to replenish Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system, which intercept '99%' of Iran's drone attacks over the weekend.  

It comes as the White House has made clear President Joe Biden does not support a package with aid for only Israel, but Speaker Mike Johnson has said he will put Ukraine and Israel on the House floor separately. 

Sens. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and Roger Marshall, R-Kan., requested unanimous consent to quickly pass a $17.6 billion aid package for the embattled U.S. ally, but Democrats object

Johnson on Monday decided to push three separate bills this week to send billions to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, DailyMail.com confirmed.

A fourth bill will reportedly include several measures such as requiring TikTok divest from its Chinese-owned parent company, an effort to obtain seized Russian assets, a lend-lease program for military aid to Ukraine and also loans for humanitarian aid.

All four bills would be lumped together under the same 'rule' to advance them to the House floor for final passage this week before going to the Senate.

Iranian missiles launched into Israel, as seen on Iranian TV 

An anti-missile system operates after Iran launched drones and missiles towards Israel, as seen from Ashkelon, Israel April 14, 2024

Johnson put the Israel-only aid package on the House floor in February but it failed to garner the two-thirds majority it needed to pass under suspension. 

'We're going to try again this week, and the details of that package are being put together right now,' he said. 'We're looking at the options and all these supplemental issues.' 

The House passed a $14 billion aid package for Israel in October, but the deal was offset by cuts to IRS funding that led to its demise in the Democrat-led Senate.   

Conservative hardliners have warned Johnson against attaching any Ukraine funding to an Israel aid bill. Johnson has remained coy on how he'd like to move forward but called an emergency all-conference meeting of his Republicans for Monday evening. 

'Under no circumstances will the House Freedom Caucus abide using the emergency situation in Israel as a bogus justification to ram through Ukraine aid with no offset and no security for our own wide-open borders,' the conservative hardliner Freedom Caucus said in a statement on Monday.  

Israel has deemed Iran's 350-missile attack a 'declaration of war,' though it said 99 percent of the missiles were intercepted. 

The attack was in response to Israel's drone strike in Syria tht killed 12 Iranians, including two top generals.