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 July ALERT!
July 6, 2009
House to Vote on Fiscal Year 2010 Foreign Aid Bill
Ask House Members to Vote for H.R. 3081 and Oppose Any Anti-Israel or Across the Board Cutting Amendments
The House is expected to vote Thursday or Friday on the fiscal year 2010 foreign aid bill which includes $2.22 billion in security assistance for Israel. Combined with $555 million in assistance included in a recently passed emergency supplemental bill, the foreign aid bill would fully fund the administration's request of $2.775 billion for Israel to fulfill the second year of the 10-year U.S.-Israeli Memorandum of Understanding. In addition the bill includes many important provisions, such as:
Prohibiting aid to a Palestinian unity government unless all ministers in the government publicly accept the Quartet conditions, while maintaining all current restrictions on aid to the West Bank and Gaza;
Prohibiting the Export-Import Bank from using funds to guarantee, insure or extend credit for companies that supply Iran with refined petroleum resources;
Requiring status reports from the State Department on multilateral and bilateral U.S. sanctions against Iran and on the administration's diplomatic efforts with Iran regarding its nuclear program. ACTION
Call House members and ask them to vote for the fiscal year 2010 Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill and oppose anti-Israel or across the board cutting amendments.
House members can be reached through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 225-3121. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact Rachel Kiehl at (202) 639-5203 or rkiehl@aipac.org.
TALKING POINTS The overall aid levels contained in this bill represent a $1.2 billion decrease in foreign aid spending compared to last year's total funding, which was allocated both in the foreign aid bill and "off budget" supplemental bills. The bill is also $3.2 billion less than what the president had requested.
Since aid to Israel is an integral part of the foreign aid bill, it is critically important to vote for the overall bill when it comes to the floor to ensure that Israel receives its assistance and to advance critical U.S. foreign policy objectives.
U.S. security assistance to Israel is the most tangible manifestation of American support for Israel and the best way to ensure that Israel maintains a qualitative military edge over its potential adversaries.
The $2.775 billion in assistance for Israel represents the fulfillment of the second year of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the governments of the United States and Israel in 2007.
This MOU was negotiated in order to meet the growing threats to Israel including, Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability, a more heavily armed Hizballah, rocket attacks by Hamas and conventional threats from Syria by boosting U.S. security assistance to Israel during the next decade.
At around 1 percent of all federal spending, foreign aid programs remain a vital component of U.S. foreign policy. A robust foreign aid budget is critical for promoting global stability and building overseas markets for American goods and services, projecting "soft" American power and reinforcing humanitarian and democratic values. A notice from The American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
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