The Biden administration is considering introducing a new arms deal that would see weapons sold to Israel worth more than $1 billion, according to a new report.
The Wall Street Journal report was published just hours after the Jewish state responded to the recent Iranian drone attack with a series of nighttime strikes.
The new agreement comes on top of an aid deal that includes $26 billion for Israel currently being debated by Congress, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The deal includes tank munitions worth $700 million, military vehicles worth $500 million and mortar shells worth $100 million, bringing the total at $1.3 billion.
It would be the largest military deal the United States has reached with Israel since Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 attack that killed 1,200 people.
The sale will require approval from congressional leaders and will be carried out over a long period of time that could extend to several years.
On Thursday, both sides were working to approve a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as several other national security policies at a critical time at home and abroad.
The deal includes tank munitions worth $700 million, military vehicles worth $500 million and mortar shells worth $100 million, bringing the total at $1.3 billion.
Rocket trails are visible in the sky above the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as Iranian missiles are intercepted by air defense
Palestinians inspect damage to a building in the town of Nuseirat, in the central Gaza Strip, on April 18.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson this week launched a plan to advance the package, which has been delayed since October by Republican lawmakers reluctant to approve additional funding for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
As the Republican president faced outright rebellion from his right flank and growing threats of his ouster, it became clear that House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries would have to lend to help Johnson every step of the way. process.
“This is a very important message that we are going to send to the world this week, and I look forward to delivering on it,” Johnson said earlier Wednesday in announcing his strategy.
President Joe Biden has openly endorsed this package.
“The House is expected to pass the package this week, and the Senate should quickly follow,” Biden said. “I will immediately sign this law to send a message to the world: we stand with our friends and we will not let Iran or Russia succeed.”
Growing momentum for bipartisan momentum, a rarity in a deeply divided Congress, has spawned rare scenes of Republicans and Democrats working together to assert America’s position on the world stage and help allies .
But it also plunged Johnson’s Republican majority into a new wave of chaos.
Johnson’s Republican leadership team, seizing the opportunity to outflank radical conservatives with Democratic support, raised the idea of quickly changing procedural rules to make it harder to oust the president from power.
House Speaker Mike Johnson this week launched a plan to advance a first package, delayed since October by Republican lawmakers reluctant to approve more funding for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
But ultra-conservatives reacted with fury, angrily confronting Johnson on the House floor in a tense scene Thursday morning.
Several suggested they would join efforts to oust Johnson if the rule were changed. By the afternoon, Johnson gave up on the idea.
“We will continue to govern according to the existing rules,” the speaker said on the social platform X.
Meanwhile, a rare display of bipartisan statesmanship was on display as the Rules of Procedure Committee began debate by launching the steps needed to advance the foreign aid plan toward the weekend vote.
Republican chairmen of the powerful Appropriations and Foreign Affairs committees, alongside their top Democratic counterparts, spoke in evocative language, some drawing on World War II history, to make the case for a position of the United States alongside its allies against the aggressors.
Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul called the period a “pivotal” in world history, comparing current images of people fleeing conflict in Europe to the situation in 1939, when Hitler’s Germany acceded to power.
“Time is not on our side,” he told the panel.
The top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Greg Meeks of New York, shared McCaul’s urgency: “The story camera is rolling.”
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