Washington Report On Middle East Affairs – October 2018

WITH IMPORTANT mid-

term elections right

around the corner, the

Washington Report again

presents its Report Card

for members of the cur-

rent Congress.* Issues

were subjectively chosen

to demonstrate congres-

sional support for, or harm

to, U.S. national interests

in the Middle East.

In 2015, Israeli Prime

Minister Binyamin Ne-

tanyahu, in an address to

Congress, blatantly at-

tacked then-President

Barack Obama with an all-

out effort to scuttle the

Iran nuclear negotiations

then under way. Since

then, U.S.-Israel and U.S.-

Iran relations have be-

come strongly partisan is-

sues. Consequently, all

members of this current “Hall of Fame” are Democrats, and

most members of the “Hall of Shame” are Republicans.

For the House, five positive and five negative issues were

chosen. Ten members registered in all five positive columns

with no negative mark, and they are shown in the “Hall of

Fame.” The “Hall of Shame” lists the 17 House members who

registered in all five negative columns with no positive mark.

For the Senate, five positive and four negative issues were

chosen. Eight senators registered in four or five positive

columns with no negative mark, and they are shown in the

“Hall of Fame.” The “Hall of Shame” lists those 11 senators

who registered in all four negative columns with no more than

one positive mark.

THE ISSUES

HOUSE: The Positives

1. No on More Goodies for Israel.Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehti-
   nen (R-FL), as one of her final pro-Israel acts before retiring,
   introduced H.R. 5141, a grab bag of goodies for Israel. It is

co-sponsored by more

than half the House

members. Those NOT

co-sponsoring are

shown in Column 1.

2. Yes on the Two-
   State Solution.Three
   measures were intro-
   duced urging a two-state
   solution to the Israeli-
   Palestinian conflict. Co-
   sponsors of at least one
   of these measures are
   shown in Column 2.


3. Palestinian Chil-
   dren.Rep. Betty McCol-
   lum (D-MN) introduced
   H.R. 4391 to prohibit
   U.S. aid to Israel from
   being used to support
   the military detention of
   Palestinian children. Co-
   sponsors are recognized
   in Column 3.


4. No on Muslim
   Registry.H.R. 489, prohibiting U.S. government officers or
   employees from establishing or using a registry classifying
   people based on religious affiliation, was introduced by Rep.
   Suzan DelBene (D-WA). Co-sponsors are recognized in Col-
   umn 4.


5. No on More Iran Sanctions.In December 2017, in a roll
   call vote, the House passed H.R. 1638, imposing sanctions
   on some of Iran’s leaders. Those voting no are listed in Col-
   umn 5.

HOUSE: The Negatives

6. Cut Palestine Aid.In December 2017, the House
   passed H.R. 1164, the “Taylor Force Act,” prohibiting aid to
   the West Bank and Gaza that directly benefits the Palestinian
   Authority. Co-sponsors are shown in Column 6.


7. Jerusalem.Several measures were introduced promot-
   ing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, including two express-
   ing disapproval of the U.N. General Assembly’s resolution “re-
   jecting” President Donald Trump’s ill-advised recognition of
   Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Co-sponsors of at least one of
   the measures are shown in Column 7.


8. Support for Israel’s Colonies.The so-called “Israel
   Anti-Boycott” bills, H.R. 1697 in the House, are strongly pro-

Shirl McArthur is a retired U.S. foreign service officer based in the

Washington, DC area.

17

Eight Senators, Ten Representatives in

115th Congress’ “Hall of Fame”

By Shirl McArthur

Special Report

OCTOBER2018 WASHINGTON REPORT ON MIDDLE EAST AFFAIRS

HALL OF FAME

Career Pro-Israel

Senate PAC Donations

Carper, Thomas (D-DE)* $ 62,

Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA)* 159,

Leahy, Patrick (D-VT) 152,

Merkley, Jeff (D-OR) 40,

Murray, Patty (D-WA) 225,

Sanders, Bernie (I-VT)* 4,

Schatz, Brian (D-HI) 40,

Udall, Tom (D-NM) 75,

*Senators up for re-election in 2018

House

Beyer, Don (D-VA) $ 9,

Blumenauer, Earl (D-OR) 28,

DeFazio, Peter (D-OR) 23,

Doyle, Mike (D-PA) 10,

Ellison, Keith (D-MN) 12,

Gutierrez, Luis (D-IL) 42,

McGovern, Jim (D-MA) 20,

Pingree, Chellie (D-ME) 16,

Speier, Jackie (D-CA) 13,

Welch, Peter (D-VT) 17,

HALL OF SHAME

Career Pro-Israel

Senate PAC Donations

Blumenthal, Richard (D-CT) $ 49,

Coons, Chris (D-DE) 50,

Cornyn, John (R-TX) 90,

Cruz, Ted (R-TX)* 18,

Inhofe, James (R-OK) 138,

Kennedy, John (R-LA) 18,

Menendez, Robert (D-NJ)* 250,

Nelson, Bill (D-FL)* 204,

Perdue, David (R-GA) 23,

Rubio, Marco (R-FL) 55,

Young, Todd (R-IN) 28,

House

Barletta, Lou (R-PA)

DeSantis, Ron (R-FL) $ 8,

DesJarlais, Scott (R-TN) 0

Duncan, Jeff (R-SC) 17,

Gaetz, Matt (R-FL) 500

Gottheimer, Josh (D-NJ) 14,

Lamborn, Doug (R-CO) 39,

McKinley, David (R-WV) 0

Meadows, Mark (R-NC) 9,

Perry, Scott (R-PA) 2,

Renacci, James (R-OH) 1,

Rokita, Todd (R-IN) 0

Roskam, Peter (R-IL) 71,

Tenney, Claudia (R-NY) 5,

Weber, Randy (R-TX)

Yoho, Ted (R-FL) 10,

Zeldin, Lee (R-NY) 57,

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