In one of the more cynical acts of late, Speaker Johnson has shepherded through the House a $14.3 billion military aid package for Israel that includes poison pills that he knew would be unacceptable to his fellow legislators. The move by the newly minted speaker means it’s likely that aid will be delayed for no other reason than that he wants to put vulnerable Democrats on their heels in next year’s election. 

The House adopted the aid package on Thursday, with 226 members voting in favor and 196 members against. Both the yes vote coalition and the no vote cohort were bipartisan — 214 Republican members joined with 12 Democrats to vote “aye” while 194 Democrats and two GOP representatives voted “nay.”

Israel should be one of the most overwhelmingly bipartisan issue areas in Washington — and luckily enough for the Jewish state, it is. Just last week, the House passed a resolution affirming its ironclad support for Israel in the war against Hamas by a margin of 412–10. When the rubber hit the road and Congress had to put its money where its mouth is, though, Mr. Johnson failed. 

Had the speaker put a standalone, $14.3 billion military aid package on the floor — as Democrats and Republicans in the House, Senate, and White House called for — it would have passed with more than 400 votes. Instead of doing that, Mr. Johnson decided to play budget games that were obviously unacceptable to his colleagues. 

The Louisianan made the decision to “offset” the cost of the aid bill by cutting the same amount from the Internal Revenue Service. Democrats claimed that by cutting the money from the IRS’s criminal tax evasion enforcement office, Mr. Johnson would ensure only that more Americans will be able to avoid paying the taxes they owe, thus contributing even more to America’s debt. 

The Congressional Budget Office reached that conclusion. On Wednesday, the CBO released its estimate that showed that America would lose $26.7 billion in estimated federal tax revenue over the next 10 years, contributing another $12.5 billion to the budget deficit. 

Mr. Johnson is a smart man and a great politician. When one of the nation’s most important allies has suffered, on a per capita basis, multiples of what America suffered on September 11, 2001, then politicians should put those skills aside for the benefit of our ally. 

Before Mr. Johnson even put his bill on the floor, Senator Schumer made it clear that he and his members would not even touch the legislation because of its financial consequences and the precedent it sets for future emergencies. 

“The Senate will not take up the House GOP’s deeply flawed proposal,” the majority leader said on X hours before the House vote. “Instead we will work on our own bipartisan emergency aid package that includes funding for aid to Israel, Ukraine, humanitarian aid including for Gaza, and competition with the Chinese Government.”

President Biden said the same. In a statement released by the Office of Management and Budget, the White House made it clear the president would never sign such an aid package. By requiring unnecessary “offsets for this critical security assistance,” the House “sets a new and dangerous precedent by conditioning assistance for Israel.” In the final line of the statement, the OMB states plainly: “If the President were presented with this bill, he would veto it.”

For those who doubt the Republican Party’s cynical use of aid for Israel as a political football, feature their own political messaging department. Just minutes after Mr. Johnson announced his plan to offset Israel aid by cutting IRS funding, the National Republican Congressional Committee — the House GOP’s campaign arm — made it clear that Democrats were going to have their arms twisted.

“Extreme House Democrats have a decision to make: IRS audits of middle-class Americans or supporting Israel,” the NRCC wrote on X. It would be a great talking point for Republican candidates in swing districts come the 2024 elections if Israel weren’t in the middle of an existential war. America’s strongest ally.