President Biden Faces Impeachment for Withholding Aid to Israel

The Biden administration has halted a shipment of military supplies to Israel in a blatantly political move to sway voters in critical swing states. Presidents have faced impeachment for far less. Nine Republican has urged impeaching Joe Biden for withholding US aid from Israel, and the president’s biggest Senate friend has gone against him, saying the IDF should ‘finish the job’ in Rafah.

Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, is Biden’s main worldwide surrogate. His public split with Biden’s policy is almost unique. Coons told the Senate floor on Thursday that he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last night.

You don’t just have right to defend the Israeli people against Hamas, you have the obligation,’ Coons said he told Netanyahu. ‘You have go after them. You have to finish the job. You have to go into Rafah.’

Still, he called on Israel to allow Palestinian civilians a pathway out of Rafah.

The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (ICA) oversees the use of monies appropriated by Congress. It was intended to restore Congress’ sovereignty over the purse and prevent the president from simply substituting their own funding decisions for those of Congress.

While it was originally an obscure law limiting spending, the public may remember it for its brief appearance in President Donald J. Trump’s first impeachment. According to the Democratic-led impeachment inquiry report:

President Trump Impeached for Suspending Aid to Ukraine

President Trump ordered the suspension of $391 million in critical military assistance required by Ukraine, a strategic partner, to confront Russian aggression. Because the aid was appropriated by Congress on a bipartisan basis and signed into law by the president, its expenditure was mandated by law.

The president, acting directly and through his subordinates inside the US administration, withheld military assistance from Ukraine for no valid foreign policy, national security, or anti-corruption reasons.

The president did so despite Congress’s longstanding bipartisan support, unanimous support across federal departments and agencies for providing military assistance to Ukraine, and his obligations under the Impoundment Control Act.

If you replace Ukraine with Israel and Hamas with Russia, the rest of the paragraph will remain same. Except, of course, that Trump denies improperly withholding the help, while President Biden has not.

How awful is it for a president to withhold congressionally authorized military aid to another country? And to do this to a democratic ally fighting an existential war? Why, it is nothing short of a “abuse of power”—as then-Presidential candidate Joe Biden put it in 2020.

Foreign Aid Controlled by Congress

The ICA does allow the president to withhold or delay the delivery of funds in certain circumstances, but it also includes very specific procedures that the administration must follow in order to notify Congress, which still has the authority to approve or disapprove of the President’s decision. None of these procedures were followed here.

What does it say about a president who unilaterally decides not to observe the law, particularly the ICA? It would imply that “we have a president who believes there is no limit to his power.” We have a president who believes he can do whatever he wants without consequences. We have a president who thinks he’s above the law. Or at least it was how then-candidate Biden rationalized the appearance of impropriety in 2020.

Some may argue that, while wrong, this behavior does not constitute the high crimes and misdemeanors that could lead to a president’s impeachment. Nonetheless, as the US Government Accountability Office discovered in January 2020, this type of illegal judgment has very substantial constitutional implications.

“The president cannot substitute his own policy preferences for those that Congress has placed into law through faithful implementation of the law.

In fact, Congress was concerned about exactly these types of withholding when it adopted and later amended the ICA… All federal officials and employees swear an oath to maintain and protect the Constitution and its essential tenants, including the congressional authority of the purse.”

In fact, in its Principles of Federal Appropriations Law, Fourth Edition, Ch. 1 (2016), the GAO referred to the legislative authority of the purse as “the most important single curb in the Constitution on presidential power.”

Numerous lawmakers have already contacted the White House, seeking explanations and accountability. The deadline for responding to at least some of those letters has gone.

So, what should happen to a president who acts like a king? It’s difficult to say in these trying circumstances, but at least some people believe that this “will leave Congress with no choice but to initiate impeachment proceedings.” Or at least, it is what then-candidate Biden believed in 2020, when that was the most popular response.

Experts, such as Colonel John Spencer, head of urban warfare at West Point, believe Israel is fighting a righteous war in the most humanitarian manner conceivable. The shortest way to halt the war, save as many Israeli, Palestinian, and American lives as possible, and preserve the globe safe for democracy is to defeat Hamas. And the president understands this, even if potential voters in Michigan do not.

Making actions that harm our own national security and the security of our allies for personal political benefit is the “definition of corruption.” Or so said then-candidate Joe Biden in 2020, when he wasn’t doing it himself.

Source: NewsWeek