How Leahy tried, and failed, to downgrade aid to Israel

1.

The age of gloating for Democrats over aid to Israel is probably over. It was a sweet ride, but apparently also short. Today, when the National Jewish Democratic Council convenes some reporters in a conference call with Jewish legislators, they had better be prepared to answer questions not just about the Republican decision to oppose aid to Israel, but also about their own Democratic head of subcommittee, who tried to downgrade the aid in an unprecedented way.

2.

And here's the story, published here for the first time. It involves Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, who has never been one of Israel's staunchest friends on the Hill. Leahy is often critical of the policies and behavior of the Israel (and sometimes rightly so). He is also the Chairman of the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee. In this position, he tried last week - and intimately failed - to change the language of the "Fiscal Year 2008 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations bill," in ways not favorable to Israel.

3.

Leahy, truth must be told, was not going to hurt Israel financially. It would have gotten the aid one way or the other. However, he did try to downgrade it in many other ways, some very technical, some symbolic. One example: he sought to change the word Shall to Should wherever the bill says that Israel "Shall" get money. This might seem insignificant to people unfamiliar and not attuned to the legislative process, but it is not. Status symbols that have been in the bill for quite a while now are a serious business. And friends of Israel, in the committee and outside of it, reacted in astonishment to this bold trial by Leahy to use his power and introduce such changes at the last minute.

4.

Bottom line: Israel has many friends in this subcommittee. To name just a few, Daniel Inouye from Hawaii, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, Sam Brownback of Kansas and many more. It also has good friends on the Appropriations Committee like Dianne Feinstein of California (also often critical, but in a friendlier manner), Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and others. Those friends, some alarmed by outside observers (AIPAC never sleeps), told Leahy they didn't like what they were seeing. Some testy words were exchanged in the markup session last Thursday. The bill, as it was introduced and passed, does not include the language Leahy wanted. In that sense, one can just treat this wrangling and shoving as if it had never happened.

5.

And this is exactly the strategy of Senator Leahy. When I called his office Friday I was told that the events described here had never happened, a reaction some people on the Hill labeled "laughable" and some "outrageous." Nevertheless, the lack of cooperation of Leahy's office left me - and others - with no answer to one crucial question: why was he doing it?

6.

A couple of days ago, writing about the Republican opposition to the Foreign Aid bill in the House, I wrote this: "It is possible to argue today - with a certain amount of justice - that the Republican Party prefers preventing the distribution of condoms in third-world countries over supporting defense aid to Israel. All the rest is excuses." Some Republican legislators didn't like it. They thought I was overreacting to their perfectly legitimate political calculation. They also realized that their opposition to the bill handed the Democratic Party a useful weapon in the war over who's-the-better-party-for-Israel. My suspicion is that Leahy might have taken that weapon away now.

7.

Democrats might say: Leahy is just one Senator. We, as a party, didn't try to harm Israel in any way, and some of our members were instrumental in blocking Leahy. True.

But Republicans will also have something to say: we never targeted the aid to Israel but rather opposed a bill for other reasons (changes to the Mexico City policy). Leahy was going after Israel, and while he is only one Senator - he is the one Senator that Democrats chose to lead them in the Subcommittee responsible for the Israel appropriations.

8.

Leahy did score one achievement, which should not be be counted as a part of the story I was just telling. This achievement is an amendment that will prevent Israel from buying cluster bombs with American aid money. The bill approved by the Appropriations Committee includes a measure, sponsored by Leahy and Feinstein, that would restrict the sale or transfer of cluster bombs. No military funds will be used for such bombs unless "the cluster bombs have a failure rate of one percent or less; and the sale or transfer agreement specifies that the cluster bombs will be used only against clearly defined military targets and not where civilians are known to be present." The Lebanon war is the reason for the passage of this amendment in the Senate committee this year.