Senate Democrats voted in record numbers Wednesday night to block nearly $500 million in U.S. arms sales to Israel, with more than 80 percent of the caucus backing at least one of two resolutions introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT).
Both resolutions failed, Fox News reports, but the vote totals mark a significant shift from previous attempts by the Vermont independent, signaling a broad realignment in how Senate Democrats view the U.S.-Israel relationship.
The first resolution would have halted roughly $295 million in Caterpillar bulldozer sales to Israel. Forty Senate Democrats voted in favor. The second, targeting nearly $152 million in 1,000-pound bombs, drew 36 Democratic votes. Neither passed without Republican support.
“Today, more than 80% of the Democratic caucus stood with the American people and voted to block U.S. military aid to Netanyahu and his horrific, illegal wars,” Sanders said in a statement Wednesday. “When we started this effort there were just 11 votes. Now, there are 40. That shift reflects where the American people are.”
The votes came the same day Senate Democrats overwhelmingly backed measures to curtail President Trump’s war powers in the Middle East. Republicans are now considering bundling the expected Iran war supplemental spending request, estimated between $50 billion and $200 billion, into a party-line bill to limit Democratic leverage over the package.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who has been a vocal critic of the war, voted against both Sanders resolutions.
Several Democratic senators who switched their positions said they still support Israel but framed their votes as opposition to the broader Iran conflict.
Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH), who previously voted against Sanders’ arms-sale proposals, said her reversal was “informed by President Trump’s and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s reckless decision to go to war.”
“I have serious questions about any supplemental expenditures for this war, let alone additional sales of weapons for the same war to Israel,” Hassan said in a statement.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) said her vote against “1,000-pound so-called ‘dumb bombs’ and military bulldozers” was intended to draw a distinction between supporting Israel and backing Netanyahu’s military agenda. “Being pro-Israel today is not simply about supporting the political or military agenda of Prime Minister Netanyahu, just like being pro-American should not be equated with loyalty to President Trump,” she said.
The shift comes as ongoing Israeli strikes in Lebanon have strained fragile ceasefire negotiations tied to the broader Iran conflict. The last time the Senate voted on a Sanders Israel arms resolution, 27 Democrats voted yes. Before that, 19 did. Wednesday’s total roughly doubled the previous high.
Republican senators have held together behind Trump on the Iran war effort, though some divisions have surfaced as ceasefire deadlines approach.
The growing Democratic bloc backing Sanders’ measures is expected to complicate the White House’s pending supplemental funding request for the war. The administration has not yet formally submitted the package to Congress, and cost estimates from administration officials have ranged widely, from $50 billion to as high as $200 billion.
