U.S. Congress approves $225 mil. for Israeli ‘Iron Dome’ system

Share:
The Israeli Iron Dome system fires to intercept incoming missiles from Gaza.
The Israeli Iron Dome system fires to intercept incoming missiles from Gaza.

The U.S. Congress approved $225 million in emergency funding for Israel’s “Iron Dome” missile defense system on Friday, sending the measure to President Barack Obama to be signed into law.

The House of Representatives approved the funding by a 395-8 vote late on Friday, several hours after the Senate passed it unanimously.

The money would be used to replenish Israel’s arsenal of Iron Dome interceptor missiles, many of which have been used to shoot down short-range rockets fired from Gaza into populated areas of Israel in the current three-week-long conflict.

An earlier version of the funding plan had failed on Thursday when Senate Republicans blocked a broader spending bill that was largely intended to provide money to handle the current immigration crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border.
But lawmakers in both chambers subsequently reached agreements to pass the missile funding measure separately.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether Obama would sign the legislation. However, several administration officials have made comments this week praising the Iron Dome system.

Because it is being treated as emergency spending – similar to that used by Congress to pay for wars and natural disaster relief – the $225 million can simply be added to the U.S. deficit. It does not need to be offset by other savings under congressional budget rules.

Israel’s Iron Dome missile interceptor system, which was partly funded by the United States, has shot down most of the rockets fired at its cities by militants in Gaza, providing much greater protection for Israelis than during past conflicts.

The Iron Dome system is constructed by top Israeli defense contractors Elisra Group, IsraelAerospace Industries and Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. It uses some components made by U.S. defense contractor Raytheon Co..

israel iron dome

Reuters

Share:

Comments

10 responses to “U.S. Congress approves $225 mil. for Israeli ‘Iron Dome’ system”

  1. The real lebanese Avatar
    The real lebanese

    Palestinian rockets truly are useless.

    1. Anti ISIS Avatar
      Anti ISIS

      Is that all you have taken out this article. I’m starting to think that perhaps you and cookie are in fact the same person.

      1. The real lebanese Avatar
        The real lebanese

        What did you get out of the article? I’ve already read in another article all about the iron dome.

        1. 5thDrawer Avatar
          5thDrawer

          Some like the ‘repeat news’ stories … hehehehe
          Did you ever notice? New headline, new paragraph, then repeat story from last 15 times? :-)))
          I think they have explained that Syria is at war at least 15 times ….. :-)))))))

          1. The real lebanese Avatar
            The real lebanese

            Im sure theres still some people out there who claim it is propaganda and there are only a couple clashes here and there.

        2. Anti ISIS Avatar
          Anti ISIS

          Would love to hear you condemn the killing of innocent people. And not just by Syria, Iran, Russia and your favorite HA.

  2. 5thDrawer Avatar
    5thDrawer

    War is good for someone’s business. (Raytheon Co.)
    But why not just buy it if it’s so good?
    Or …. has Congress already bought Israel … hmmmm 😉

    1. Thats my company i work for.

      1. 5thDrawer Avatar
        5thDrawer

        Ahhh .. a weapons specialist. 😉

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *