Vast majority of progressives overwhelmingly backed Iron Dome funding

• Published date: 28 September 2021
• Author: RON KAMPEAS/JTA
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

And in the end, most progressives backed it: Of the 95 members of the Democrats' progressive caucus in the US House of Representatives, 85 voted yes.

At first glance, that resounding progressive "yes" to the $1 billion in additional funding to replenish the system's batteries — depleted from the latest Gaza conflict in May — would seem to put to rest the narrative that the Democratic Party's largest caucus was discarding pro-Israel tradition.

cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); });

>

But last week did mark a significant change: the way the funding was ultimately approved, in addition to statements from some of the progressive caucus members who voted yes, made clear that from now on, Israel can no longer expect a blank check for defense assistance, at least from progressives.

Last week the progressive caucus forced Democratic leaders to pull out the $1 billion from an unrelated emergency government funding bill that came before Congress on Sept. 21.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who led the push to separate the Iron Dome funding from the larger spending bill, said it was absurd to shove through such an amount of money without first debating its merits.

"That just isn't the way things work around here," she told CNN the following day, after the House passed the spending bill, sans Iron Dome. "There was no discussion about it."

After the critique, Democratic leadership moved quickly. There was a debate last Thursday, and it seemed to have been persuasive: Jayapal was among those who voted yes, and so were some of Israel's toughest critics in the progressive caucus, among them Mark Pocan of Wisconsin, Betty McCollum of Minnesota and Jamaal Bowman of New York.

Bowman told Bloomberg News that his problem with the original effort to approve the Iron Dome funding had nothing to do with Israel and everything to do with the rush to get it voted on without traditional debate.

"It's not about Israel, it's about, once again, leadership, throwing something on our table last minute and expecting us to decide in five minutes what to do with it, that's the bigger problem," he said.

The eight Democrats who voted against funding, and the two who voted "present," got plenty of political and media attention — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez's lengthy and anguished explanation of her "present" vote late Friday made many...