Senate bill supports migrant children and Israeli defenses

I’ve received in my email in-box this morning appeals from various organizations asking me to contact my senators to encourage them to vote in favor of Senate Bill 2648, an emergency supplemental appropriations bill that would fund “necessary expenses to respond to the significant rise in unaccompanied children and adults with children at the southwest border.”

One supporting organization says that passing this bill would be a “great victory” because it includes $300 million for the State Department to help address the root causes of the migration of children from Central America to the U.S., such as hunger, poverty, and violence in their home countries.

None of the appeal letters that I have seen mention that the senate bill also “provides appropriations for the Department of Defense (DOD) to assist the government of Israel with procurement of the Iron Dome defense system to counter short-range rocket threats.”

The bill gives $225 million for Israel’s Iron Dome.

“Israel requested it, the White House asked us to include it,” Majority Whip Dick Durbin, D-Ill., told Politico. “Bringing the Iron Dome funding as well as wildfires into it can broaden the support,” Durbin said.

The bill also includes $615 million for U.S. Forest Service to cover shortfalls in funding to fight wildfires.