Vermont’s sole delegate to the U.S. House plans to split her votes Saturday when a series of long-debated foreign aid bills are expected to reach the floor of the closely divided chamber.
U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt., said in a written statement Friday that she would back legislation providing roughly $60 billion in military assistance to Ukraine as it seeks to fend off Russia’s invasion. She also plans to support a separate, $8 billion measure aiming to support Taiwan and counter China in the Indo-Pacific region.
But Balint said she would oppose a third bill providing roughly $26 billion in military aid to Israel and humanitarian aid for Palestinians in the war that has devastated the Gaza Strip over the past six months.
As of Friday afternoon, according to spokesperson Sophie Pollock, Balint had not yet decided how she would vote on a fourth bill that would, among other things, seek to force TikTok’s Chinese owner to sell the social media company and seize frozen Russian assets.
The various measures are making their way to the House floor under highly unusual circumstances.
The U.S. Senate passed versions of the legislation in a single bill in February, but House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., opted to break that bill into four pieces — to allow for different factions to vote in favor of some and against others. If all four pass, they would then be rolled back together and sent to the Senate for a final vote. President Joe Biden has expressed strong support for the package.
Even getting the bills to the floor in the first place was a major challenge for Johnson, who faced fierce resistance from members of his caucus opposed to aid for Ukraine. In a rare display of bipartisanship Friday, more Democrats than Republicans joined Johnson in a procedural vote to take up the four pieces of legislation. That vote was 316 to 94.
Balint, however, was among those who voted against it. According to Pollock, that’s because Democrats typically oppose Republican procedural moves and vice versa — and because she opposed the aid to Israel.
“She knew that Democrats would make sure that these funding bills would have the votes to come to the floor,” Pollock said.
In her written statement Friday, Balint called herself “a lifelong supporter of a safe and secure Israel and a two-state solution,” adding that she would “always be firm in supporting Israel as a sovereign nation.” But to provide Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government additional military aid, she said, “is to condone the utter destruction of Gaza we’ve seen over the last seven months and risks fueling a deadly regional war.”
“The United States cannot continue to support the extreme offensive that has caused unimaginable suffering to the Palestinian people,” Balint said.
In a separate statement, Balint sounded a different tone on aid to Ukraine.
“It’s long past time the United States showed robust support for our democratic ally, Ukraine,” she said. “Sustaining Ukraine’s effort to maintain its independence is so critical to the health of our global democracy.”
When the combined package came before the Senate in February, Vermont’s two delegates to that chamber opposed it. In explaining their votes at the time, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., cited their opposition to the aid for Israel.
