Unsettled Christianity

A Republican Congress would seek to remove funding for Israel from the foreign operations budget, a GOP leader said.

U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, the Republican whip and the only Jewish Republican in the House of Representatives, told JTA that a GOP-led House would seek to defund nations that do not share U.S. interests, even if it meant rejecting the president’s foreign operations budget.

Cantor, of Virginia, said he wants to protect funding for Israel should that situation arise.

“Part of the dilemma is that Israel has been put in the overall foreign aid looping,” he said when asked about the increasing tendency of Republicans in recent years to vote against foreign operations appropriations. “I’m hoping we can see some kind of separation in terms of tax dollars going to Israel.”

Cantor’s statement was a sign that the Republican leadership was ready to defer to the party’s right wing on this matter. Some on the GOP right have suggested including Israel aid in the defense budget, and a number of Tea Party-backed candidates have said they would vote against what is known in Congress as “foreign ops.” (here)

Several things – okay. Cool. Let’s cut some foreign aid and use that money in the U.S. where we might actually need it. If we have to go the austerity route, so be it, but let’s do it in the pockets of the Republicans too.

Second, why is it that we can cut off all foreign aid to every other country but Israel? Surely Cantor has read Patraeus‘s report suggesting that Israel, if anything, stands against American foreign interests. And yet…

And why is it that a party built on limiting Government spending is okay with such large sums to foreign governments?

Related articles

• Cantor: Republican Leadership Will Consider Defunding NPR (huffingtonpost.com)
• Cantor on GOP: “We screwed up when we were in the majority” (dailykos.com)