House Democrat Blasts Republican Bill He Just Voted For: ‘It Was a Political Trap’

Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) appeared on Thursday’s edition of The Source on CNN and railed against legislation that would provide aid to Israel while defunding the Internal Revenue Service.

Just hours before, he voted in favor of it.

House Republicans tied a $14 billion security package to Israel to around $14 billion in cuts to the IRS. They say the cuts offset the aid money. However, the Congressional Budget Office states that the cuts to the tax-collecting agency will actually add more to the deficit than merely borrowing $14 billion.

Moskowitz was one of 12 Democrats to vote for the bill, which passed.

“Congressman Moskowitz, you’re obviously a Democrat,” host Kaitlan Collins noted. “Democratic leaders did not want you to vote for this bill, but you did anyway despite having called it ‘a political trap.’ Tell me why.”

“Well, first of all, it was a political trap,” he responded. “You don’t have to ask me. You can just ask the [National Republican Congressional Committee], who, the very day they came out with this bill, posted [that] Democrats are gonna have to choose between Israel and the IRS. And so that’s why I was calling that out. I don’t think that the speaker should have done this.”

The lawmaker then explained his vote, citing the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks in Israel that were perpetrated by Hamas.

“I voted for it because my grandmother was part of the Kindertransport out of Germany as a child,” he continued. “She told me about these things that are happening in the world right now, and it sounded like something happened a long time ago. You go to the Holocaust museums. You see these pictures, you hear these stories. People tattooed with numbers on their arms and you think, ‘This could never happen.’ And we’ve seen the largest amount of Jews killed on a single day on October 7th.”

Moskowitz said he is “happy” the Democratic-controlled Senate will not consider the bill.

“This wasn’t the time to do that,” he said. “Not on Israel. Not in their time of need.”

On Tuesday, President Joe Biden threatened to veto the legislation were it to come to his desk.

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