Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Congress Triples Obama’s Request for Spending on Israel-U.S. Defense Projects

The final version of the congressional defense budget triples the Obama administration’s request for funding for joint U.S.-Israel defense cooperation.

The $284 million in the budget released jointly Dec. 10 by the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate budget committees – up from $96 million requested by the Obama administration – includes funding for the Arrow long-range anti-missile system and the David’s Sling and Iron Dome missile defense systems.

The full National Defense Authorization Act for 2014 is virtually assured passage.

Defense cooperation funding – to which Israel contributes – is separate from the $3.1 billion Israel receives in defense assistance as part of a ten-year package.

Separately, the House on Wednesday passed 399-0 a bill that would enhance the U.S. commitment to Israel’s qualitative military edge in the region. The bill, initiated by Reps. Doug Collins (R-Ga.) and Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) increases the frequency that the president must report to Congress on the maintenance of Israel’s advantage, from once every four years to once every two years, and adds requests for reports on cyber security and asymmetric warfare.

Additionally, the House Energy and Commerce Committee approved legislation that would create a strategic energy partnership between Israel and the United States.

The measure, referred to the full House on Dec. 10, amends the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and is designed to strengthen collaboration between Israel and the United States on energy development. Committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) led the charge for the countries to develop ways for long-term, strategic cooperation on energy matters.

The bill calls for the creation of a U.S.-Israel Center of Excellence to promote the development of advanced energy technologies.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is working to have this bill adopted by the full House of Representatives.

Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), and Mary Landrieu (D-La.) have introduced a similar bill in the Senate.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism so that we can be prepared for whatever news 2025 brings.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.