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This week, the House considered Thomas Massie's amendment to remove the $3.3 billion in annual Foreign Military Financing for Israel from an appropriations bill. Sadly, the amendment failed, 314 to 104.
Still, there are some huge takeaways from this vote.
First, let’s put it in context. This isn’t the first time lawmakers have tried to restrict or block military aid to Israel. In 2025, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene introduced an amendment to strike funding from Israeli cooperative defense programs. That amendment failed 6 to 422, making this week’s vote a dramatic shift by comparison.
Likewise, former Rep. Jamaal Bowman sponsored similar efforts to condition Israeli military aid. However, House leadership ensured those proposals never even made it to the floor for a vote.
So while Massie’s amendment ultimately failed, it also forced lawmakers to go on the record again.
And that’s what makes this vote worth paying attention to.
The win is that 103 Democrats voted for the amendment, joined by Thomas Massie, the only Republican to support it. Considering where public opinion is, Congress still has a long way to go. Even so, this vote marks some progress.
Which brings us to the losses.
Considering that restricting military aid and weapons to Israel is popular with voters across the political spectrum, this vote shows just how disconnected Congress is from the public. Even with elections coming up, most lawmakers still weren’t willing to go against their donors.
What’s especially disappointing is that many Democrats voted against it even though they knew it didn’t have the Republican votes needed to pass. A yes vote wouldn’t have changed the outcome, but it would have shown they were willing to take a stand. Instead, 98 of them voted no, and another 10 didn’t even cast a vote.
Whenever Donald Trump calls the nation together to make an announcement, we can usually count on a few things. First, he’s going to lie his ass off. Second, whatever he’s there to talk about probably isn’t going to do much to improve the lives of ordinary Americans. And this speech was no different.
So while many are dismissing this as another round of grievances over the 2020 election, others see something far more sinister. Trump spent the entire speech pushing claims of Chinese election interference, despite the fact that those claims aren’t supported by the very files he said Americans should see.
That’s because this speech may have been about more than relitigating 2020.
If Republicans want to build public support for the SAVE Act, they first have to convince Americans there’s a problem the bill solves. The SAVE Act would require Americans to provide documentary proof of U.S. citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, when registering to vote in federal elections. Supporters argue it’s needed to protect election integrity. But critics say it’s unnecessary because voting by non-citizens is already illegal and rare. Instead they warn it could make it harder for millions of eligible Americans to register to vote.
The bill has already passed the House (with only 4 Republicans voting no) but it faces a much tougher road in the Senate. That’s why shaping public opinion matters. If enough Americans become convinced that foreign governments are meddling in our elections, a bill that once seemed politically difficult suddenly starts looking conveniently necessary.
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