Senate Approves $225M Cash Infusion for Israel's Iron Dome
An Iron Dome air defense system fires to intercept a rocket from Gaza Strip in the costal city of Ashkelon, Israel. Tsafrir Abayov/AP File Photo
The House could give its approval later in the day.
The Senate on Friday signed off on $225 million to send to Israel for its Iron Dome missile defense system, and the House could give its approval later in the day.
The funding was held up on Thursday night in a dispute over how to pay for it, and it looked as if Congress would punt the issue until September after its five-week recess.
But Israel may end up benefitting from the House G.O.P.'s bumbling of an unrelated border bill: Because the chamber stayed in Washington an extra day, the Senate decided to approve the Iron Dome bill by unanimous consent on Friday even though its members had already left town.
The House now is likely to take up the measure later on Friday when it tries again to pass its border bill, according to Chad Pergram of Fox News.
House plans to add Senate's Iron Dome funding to schedule today. Should be separate from border bills.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) August 1, 2014The money for Israel comes as a 72-hour ceasefire with Hamas collapsed just a few hours after it began. Israel says the advanced Iron Dome system has a success rate of 90 percent, and it has used it repeatedly to shoot down incoming rockets fired by Palestinians during the escalating conflict in recent weeks, according to the Associated Press.
“By passing this bipartisan measure, we send a message to Hamas that its terrorist tactics and its attempts to terrorize Israel’s populace will not succeed," the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell (Ky.), said in a statement Friday. "And we can help Israel defend its civilian population against indiscriminate attacks as it continues its campaign—Operation Protective Edge—to destroy the often-Iranian-supplied weapons stockpiled within Gaza.”