Senate rebuffs White House request to water down Palestinian aid cuts
The US Senate wants to beef up legislation cutting aid to the West Bank and Gaza Strip after the House passed a watered-down version last year at the insistence of President Donald Trump’s peace envoy.
The US Senate is moving forward with deep cuts to Palestinian aid, Al-Monitor has learned, overruling the White House and House lawmakers and potentially jeopardizing bipartisan support for the bill.
The chamber is expected to vote shortly on legislation slashing economic assistance to the West Bank and Gaza Strip unless the Palestinian Authority (PA) stops providing stipends to prisoners whom Israel has convicted of terrorism, as well as their families. The latest version of the Taylor Force Act, obtained by Al-Monitor, would undo House-passed exemptions for wastewater projects and childhood vaccinations and remove a clause ending the cuts after 2023.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., is expected to bring the new version to the floor imminently, several sources told Al-Monitor.
“Corker will not allow the House-passed exceptions for child vaccinations and water treatment,” a congressional aide told Al-Monitor. “If he just took up the House text, it would pass the Senate without issue. Instead, he is making this an issue.”
