WASHINGTON — Every member of Massachusetts’ U.S. House delegation voted on Wednesday, July 15, 2026, to eliminate $3.3 billion in proposed military assistance to Israel from a national security spending bill.
The amendment, introduced by Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, failed by a vote of 104-314, with 10 representatives voting present and nine not voting, according to the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House.
Rep. Massie was the only Republican to support the amendment. Democrats divided nearly evenly, with 103 voting for it, 98 opposing it, and 10 voting present.
Massachusetts’ nine Democratic representatives — Richard Neal, Jim McGovern, Lori Trahan, Katherine Clark, Seth Moulton, Stephen Lynch, Ayanna Pressley, Jake Auchincloss, and William Keating — all voted in favor.
Amendment 8 sought to prohibit funds appropriated under the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2027, or H.R. 8595, from being used for Israel and to reduce the Foreign Military Financing Program account by $3.3 billion. Rep. Clark said the amendment would not have affected Israeli defense systems such as Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow, and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD). Since the amendment failed, the $3.3 billion allocation remained in the House-passed bill.
“Israel has the right to exist as a sovereign, secure, and democratic Jewish state,” Rep. Clark, who represents Massachusetts’ 5th Congressional District, said in a statement. “They have the right to defend their people and their territory. The United States should continue to have a strong strategic alliance with Israel and support its defense against governments and proxy groups that seek its destruction. We must continue to support Israel’s defensive systems like the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow and THAAD — which are not impacted by this amendment. And we must fight against the scourge of antisemitism whenever and wherever it appears.”
Reps. McGovern, Lynch, and Pressley joined 24 other representatives in issuing a statement supporting the amendment before the vote.
“As members of Congress, it is our duty to ensure that our constituents’ hard-earned money is used in a way that advances America’s interests and values,” the lawmakers said. “For this reason, we do not support providing an additional $3.3 billion of American taxpayer dollars to be used for Israeli military operations in Gaza and Lebanon—operations which have killed tens of thousands of civilians, led to the indiscriminate destruction of civilian infrastructure, and caused severe and ongoing humanitarian catastrophes.”
In their statement, they argued that Israeli security forces have committed longstanding human-rights violations against Palestinians and that restrictions attached to American security assistance have not been meaningfully enforced.
“These are just the latest in a long string of human rights violations inflicted on Palestinian civilians,” the lawmakers said in their statement. “For nearly six decades, Israeli security forces and military authorities have enforced the occupation of the Palestinian territories, including through restrictions on freedom of movement, arbitrary detention, torture, and extrajudicial killings. It is clear that existing human rights conditions on the use of American security assistance have not been meaningfully enforced. Enough is enough.”
The House subsequently passed the $47.32 billion National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Appropriations Act, 2027, by a 217-209 vote, sending the legislation to the Senate.
