A representative of the US authorities who blocked the allocation of funds for the purchase of ammunition for the Iron Dome missile defense system was named

After being approved by a majority vote of the House of Representatives on September 23, the bill on aid to Israel received an unexpected kick in the United States the day before - already during the discussion by the senators. The proposal to allocate a billion dollars for the purchase of ammunition for the tactical missile defense system "Iron Dome" ("Iron Dome") did not gain the required number of supporters in Congress, and now risks getting the status of a decision postponed indefinitely.
The culprit for the pause was Republican Rand Paul, who is considered by the US Congress to be an ardent adherent of libertarian values and an opponent of providing military assistance to any foreign state.
The senator opposed the expedited procedure for consideration and adoption of the bill, offering to save money. This representative of the US authorities is confident that the billion can be taken from the funds that have already been allocated earlier in the framework of assistance to Afghanistan.
The proposed alternative had a peculiar effect: by his reluctance to join the number of consenting republicans, he blocked the final decision, creating a situation of a forced postponement of the vote for another time. And if the leadership of the US Democratic Party fails to enlist the support of Congressmen in the coming days, then there will be an immediate risk of an even longer consideration of the issue.
Lobbyists from the American Israel Committee (AIPAC) criticized the position of the troublemaker senator, accusing him of sympathizing with the position of the Democratic "Progressives" from the House of Representatives, who voted on September 21 against the inclusion of expenses for the needs of Israel's "Iron Dome" as a separate item in the draft US budget. After this demarche, the leader of the Democrats in the lower house of Congress, Stanie Hoyer, asked by phone an apology to the head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Yair Lapid. The "hitch" was eliminated a couple of days later during a general vote for a separate bill in the House of Representatives.
The initiative to help Israel had to go through a stage of approval in the Senate, after which it was planned to transfer the law in the approved form for signature to President Joe Biden - who promised to resolve the issue of assistance in the purchase of anti-missiles for the Iron Dome during recent face-to-face talks with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.
According to the chronicles of the Congress, Senator Rand Paul has managed to surprise colleagues before with the talent of a “blocker”. So, in March 2013, on the day of the alleged confirmation of John Brennan to the post of director of the CIA, the scrupulous Republican Paul stretched his speech for 11 hours, disrupting the vote under the pretext of disagreeing with the intention of the authorities to use the military Drones in the United States.
- Nikolay Stalnov
- Congressman account twitter.com/RandPaul
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