House to vote on bill to prevent Biden from withholding weapons to Israel as GOP ramps up pressure on Democrats

The House is expected to vote on Thursday on a GOP-led bill to compel the delivery of defensive weapons to Israel as Republicans ramp up pressure on President Joe Biden over his handling of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

The House is expected to vote on Thursday on a GOP-led bill to compel the delivery of defensive weapons to Israel as Republicans ramp up pressure on President Joe Biden over his handling of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. The bill would prevent President Joe Biden from withholding, halting, reversing or canceling weapons transfers that have been approved by Congress from the United States to Israel, and requires any that have been withheld to be delivered to Israel within 15 days of the bill’s enactment. The legislation would cut off funds from several key executive-branch entities, including the State Department, the Defense Department and the National Security Council until any withheld weapons are sent to Israel. The House vote has seemingly been partly designed to put pressure on Democrats and is expected to expose divisions within the party over the issue. The bill is unlikely to be taken up in the Democratic-led Senate and the White House has said that Biden would veto the bill if Congress passed it. It comes as Biden has faced pushback from lawmakers in both parties after he said during an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett last week that he would halt some shipments of American weapons to Israel if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a major invasion of the city of Rafah, where more than a million civilians have been sheltering.