Chris Van Hollen: “I come to the Senate floor today with a sense of great disappointment, disappointment in what my colleague, the senior…”

“I come to the Senate floor today with a sense of great disappointment, disappointment in what my colleague, the senior Senator from Florida and the Republican leader have done with the bill that was before us. Because they have taken a bill that had broad--maybe unanimous--bipartisan support and tried to turn it into a political weapon. As a result, they are doing a great disservice to the American people and to all of us who value the tradition of strong bipartisan support for our friend and ally, Israel. I also opposed Senator McConnell's amendment to S.1 because it contains language that could require the perpetual presence of American forces in Afghanistan and Syria. I am a cosponsor of the original bill S.2497 entitled the United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018. It is a bill to codify the memorandum of understanding between the United States and Israel, that was forged under President Obama and which provides Israel with $38 billion in security assistance over the next 10 years. This includes $33 billion in foreign military financing funds to Israel and $5 billion in missile defense assistance for the Iron Dome, David's Sling, and the Arrow-3. That is a lot of money when you consider the many priorities we have here at home and abroad. In fact, more than one-half of our entire global foreign military financing, the security assistance we provide to all of our partners and allies around the world, goes to Israel.…”