Diaz-Balart Says White House 'Pressured' Democrats to Vote Against Israel Support Bill

The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed the Israel Security Assistance Support Act,  a bill designed to ensure that federal funds may not be used to “withhold, halt, reverse, or cancel the delivery of defense articles or defense services to Israel. This move comes after President Biden (D) decided to refrain from sending offensive weaponry to the Jewish State when it began its campaign in Rafah. The Floridian spoke with Congressman Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) – one of the lawmakers who introduced the bill – about the lack of support from Democrats including Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).

Rep. Diaz-Balart believes that Democratic members were “pressured” by President Biden and his administration to vote against the bill. Florida Democrats who voted for the bill include Representatives Lois Frankel, Jared Moskowitz, and Darren Soto.

“There was obviously a lot of pressure that came from the White House … Which is unfortunate and I’ll tell you why: Because what this resolution said to the President was do what we passed in the bipartisan bill here weeks ago, with, by the way, the support of the President,” said Rep. Diaz-Balart.

He would also mention, “We passed a resolution that we had to negotiate with the Senate and the White House. Including the armaments that we put in there for Israel, the White House and Israel requested them from Congress. And we did it. And we put it in there in a bipartisan way. Then all of a sudden, within weeks the President changes his mind and decides to withhold the armaments.”

Rep. Diaz-Balart also included the notion that he thinks President Biden changed his mind simply for political gain.

"It looks like it’s for political reasons, he changed his mind. And so what did this [bill] do? It just said to enforce the law, which he signed into law just weeks ago. This shouldn’t have been complicated and it's not controversial, because again, all it says is do because you’re President – what you signed into law weeks ago … But it’s not like we're asking him to do something weird. We’re asking the President to do what he himself agreed to do, asked to do, and understood what Israel needs.

“It’s really hard to believe that this President would within weeks of first requesting and then signing the bill, change his mind because he gets some pressure.

Diaz-Balart believes that the pressure is coming from “pro-Hamas constituencies.”