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US Senate Democrats block Republican bid to aid Israel, not Ukraine
(www.reuters.com)
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this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2023
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Good. Tying aid to cuts in IRS funding was absolutely asinine. Failing to fund Ukraine, which is actually fighting for it's continued existence as a political entity is also asinine.
Yes, Hamas is a horrible organization; but, the Israeli Government isn't facing an existential threat and has not been an innocent actor in the situation in Gaza. Aid and support should come with strings attached to ensure the protection of civilians and property rights of the people being displaced.
Fully agree, but have to add:
Most of the aid to Ukraine is actually just money for the US defense industry and military. They get to donate old stuff without paying for disposal and get money to build new staff.
The ROI on supporting Ukraine is huge. The US is eliminating their second biggest threat without sacrificing a single soldier and only at the cost of donating old equipment.
Israel, on the other hand, is more of a leech on the USA. They don't provide much benefit and they cost a lot of money and soft power. Unlike Ukraine, they have a powerful lobbying group to get out much more from the USA than would ever be warranted if they didn't hijack US domestic politics.
I think you misunderstand Isreals role in the region, as far as US politics is concerned. As long as Isreal is a viable force in the region, They are seen as a knife at the collective Arab/Iranian/Egyptian throat. They act as a US proxy providing a counter weight to other regional powers. I'm no defender of Isreal, there actions, or Netanyahu, just providing another point of view.
I know that argument, but then you must also accept that acts like 9/11 are blowback and forever wars like Iraq, Afghanistan and ISIS are inevitable.
The American people do not profit of off this modern colonialism.
Just trading peacefully with the Muslim world would be cheaper and cost less blood.
“Israel is the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier, and is located in a critical region for American national security.”
— Alexander Haig
Like it or not, it's as true then as it is now.
Israel has a VERY strong military industrial complex and the US is a long time collaborator and customer. It is far from a "leech" scenario.
Also, don't forget that we are getting immense amounts of research and testing in Ukraine. A LOT of our gear has never been (meaningfully) used in anger. That, combined with the reality of a modern war against near-ish peers makes those "aid packages" worth their weight in gold. The paper and the envelopes, not the crates full of javelins.
Israel keeps the whole region unstable. That's an immeasurable benefit to US oil interests.
Saudi Arabia and Yemen, the Syrian war, Islamic state.
Israel certainly is adding to the instability, but the region is pretty unstable without considering them.
Or human rights.
Republicans will run ads saying that Democrats refused to support Israel and Democrats will mumble about the violation of parliamentary principles. Then voters will ignore the whole thing and vote exclusively on how they feel about abortion.
The average voter doesn't pay attention so you're right.
They fixate on what's presented the loudest, because that's the news most readily available to them.
Also, I won't lie, I've had a lot of personal drama around women's health in my own life. I'm a Texas resident who knows quite a few women who have miscarried or needed to terminate their pregnancy in the last ten years. I don't know what any of them are expected to do over the next ten years. But I do know that my sister has told me straight up "I can't move back to Texas to be with the family, because I want to have more kids".
Why would wanting to have more kids discourage you from moving back to Texas? Because she's at a high risk of miscarriage. And if she miscarries, there's a real possibility that the local hospital will let her bleed out in the ER before they risk the liability of performing a life-saving operation.
I can't ignore that impact on my immediate family, even as I recognize the shitty attempts by politicians to make Israel/Ukraine into a cash grab for their donor bases. All that becomes - for better or worse - a secondary concern beside the fact that my sister doesn't feel safe living in Texas while pregnant.
I'm sure I'm not alone in this regard.
Not really, at least in their minds.
It jives with party dogma, depresses audits and therefore, donors win big (which fills campaign war chests).
Perfectly sensible by those metrics. /s
The irs cuts were to curtail the new staff which was tasked with auditing the middle class.
agreed.
In fairness, yes. If we consider the perspective of the GOP as a legitimate attempt to balance budgets, tying foreign aid to cuts elsewhere in spending makes sense. Then reality shows up, taps us on the shoulder and we quickly discover that the GOP's views on "balanced budgets" is actually just a smoke screen for "cut stuff we don't like" and the whole argument falls apart.
So ya, sticking with the "asinine" descriptor.
well you can also balance budgets by raising taxes or even just collecting income, investment, and corporate taxes equally and having tiers that don't cap at six figures.
BUT THAT'S SOCIALISM!!!11!1one!1!
/s in case it wasn't blindingly obvious.
In seriousness, just rolling back the Bush era tax cuts would provide a huge boost to Federal Government revenue. There are a lot of other possible options, as well, which could raise revenue. But, the GOP never met a tax cut they didn't like and a tax increase they didn't hate.
Balancing the budget implies funding the IRS. Very few government investments have a higher return than tax audits.