For Immediate Release: June 26, 2006
Contact: Kimberly Allen, (202) 226-8364; (202) 420-1524 [cell]
Rep. Rothman Helps Secure $2.46 Billion in U.S. Aid for Israel
Ensures that Hamas-led Palestinian Authority Does Not Receive Any U.S. Funds
(Washington, DC)— As a member of the House Appropriations Committee’s Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Congressman Steve Rothman (D-NJ) helped secure $2.46 billion in U.S. military and economic foreign aid for Israel. These funds were allocated through the Foreign Operations spending bill for Fiscal Year 2007, which the House approved Friday, June 9 on a vote of 373-34.
“As the first-ever Congressman from Bergen County to hold a seat on this Subcommittee, I feel it is my duty to remind my colleagues how invaluable the State of Israel is to the United States – as an ally in the Global War on Terror, the strongest military power in the region, and the only democracy in the Middle East,” said Rothman. “I often ask my colleagues who are skeptical of this fact to explain what would happen if Israel did not exist. Imagine how many more troops we would need to deploy and how much money we would have to spend to create a security partner like Israel in such a critical region.”
As part of this spending bill, President Bush had requested $150 million for the Palestinian Authority before Hamas gained the majority in the Palestinian parliament. Rothman and his colleagues on the House Appropriations Committee voted to eliminate this funding given the new circumstances. The bill allows for humanitarian aid to be provided to the Palestinian people through the United Nations Relief Works Agency, although the final amount is still being determined by the State Department.
This funding cut is in line with the Palestinian Anti-Terrorism Act, which passed the House on May 23 on a vote of 361-27. That bill ends all direct U.S. aid to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority until Hamas renounces terrorism, disarms, and acknowledges Israel’s right to exist.
Since joining the Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations in 2001, Rothman has helped secure $23.39 billion in economic and military assistance and loan guarantees for Israel. Since joining Congress nearly nine years ago, he has helped secure a total of approximately $40 billion in aid for the State of Israel.
Rothman is the first Jewish-American member of Congress elected to represent the 9th Congressional District and the only current Jewish-American House member from New Jersey. Prior to his election to the House of Representatives in 1996, Rothman served two terms as Mayor of Englewood and one term as the Surrogate Court Judge for Bergen County. Prior to that, the Congressman served as the Chair of the Jewish Community Relations Council for Bergen and North Hudson Counties in New Jersey and served on the Board of Directors for both the local United Jewish Appeal Federation and the Jewish Community Center in Tenafly.
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