House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Michael McCaul (R-Texas) said Sunday that Republicans have no choice but to back a short-term funding solution before a potential government shutdown.
In an interview on CBS News’s “Face the Nation,” McCaul stressed the importance of passing aid for foreign allies, which will not be feasible if the government shuts down.
“We’re gonna have to. I mean, there’s no choice here,” McCaul said when asked whether Republicans can pass the continuing resolution (CR) proposal that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) unveiled Saturday.
“The world is on fire from where I sit. It is too urgent. We can’t sit back and do nothing,” McCaul added. “And talking to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] — they needed this yesterday, in his words. Ukraine needed it yesterday. The border for [certain] needed it yesterday. We know that [Chinese President Xi Jinping] is threatening Taiwan in the Pacific.”
McCaul, who is returning from Israel with a bipartisan congressional delegation Sunday, said he predicts the Senate will come up with an aid package and that they would send it to the House after Thanksgiving.
House Republicans passed an Israel supplemental aid bill earlier this month, which included cuts to one of Democrats’ most-valued accomplishments: funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he would not take the bill up in the Senate, and President Biden threatened to veto it.
Democrats have pointed to data showing that GOP-proposed cuts to IRS funding would only add to the deficit since fewer agents would be able to go after wealthy Americans avoiding taxes. Republicans pointed to this as a pay-for necessary to offset spending to Israel.
McCaul called for Congress to stop playing political games, noting the urgency of the matter.
“Our aid to Israel is urgent, and time is of the essence. We have to deliver this package. Now, I know that we have offsets. And that’s fair. But I don’t think we can play political games with this, to support our ally,” McCaul said. “Because if they fail, and we fail, it would have a very bad effect across the Middle East into Ukraine, that’s vitally important as well. So is Taiwan, and so is the last line of defense, the Southern border. So really, if you think about all these threats, [they] are really tied together.”
As for whether all national security and foreign aid will be packaged together, he said, “All that has yet to be figured out.” But he added, “I do know that we have to address this because time is of the essence on all parts.”