With a key amendment to a 2027 spending bill expected to come up for a vote in the US House of Representatives in the coming days, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had what one organizer called “a real opportunity… to show he’s listening” to the Democratic Party’s base and its growing disapproval of US military aid for Israel.

But on Tuesday, progressive advocates said Jeffries (D-NY) had squandered that opportunity by announcing in a Dear Colleague letter that he would oppose the amendment put forward by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), which would eliminate the $3.3 billion the US provides to Israel’s military annually.

Last month, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.)—who was detained by armed Israeli settlers in the West Bank this week—urged his colleagues to back the amendment, calling US support for Israel “the moral test of our time” as he stood in front of a memorial for 20,000 children killed by the Israeli military in Gaza.

In the letter and at a caucus meeting Tuesday morning, Jeffries claimed the amendment was “overly broad” and could limit funds for humanitarian aid, refugee resettlement, and other operations.

He also asserted that the funding cut would restrict the United States’ ability to “confront Hamas.”

The US government, under both the Biden and Trump administrations, has relentlessly claimed that Israel’s US-backed assault on Gaza that began in 2023 has targeted Hamas, even as refugee camps, schools, hospitals, residential buildings, aid workers, and children have been targeted by the Israel Defense Forces and as Israel has concurrently ramped up violent efforts to annex the West Bank.

A ceasefire in Gaza was reached in October 2025, but more than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since the deal was signed. In all, more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed.

As the US has continued to give material and political support to Israel, approval of the military aid and the Israeli government has plummeted among the American public.

More than half of Democratic voters said in an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll last week that they believed the US-backed military operation amounted to a genocide.

A Quinnipiac University poll found last August that three-quarters of Democratic voters and 60% of all voters supported suspending US weapons aid to Israel.

A number of progressive Democratic challengers, including Melat Kiros in Colorado, Chris Rabb in Pennsylvania, and Adam Hamawy in New Jersey, have also decisively won primary races in recent months after campaigning on a suspension of US military aid to Israel, noted Usamah Andrabi, communications director for Justice Democrats.

In the corporate press, the issue at hand was described as one that has “sharply divided” Democrats in recent weeks—a characterization that Adam Johnson of the podcast “Citations Needed” vehemently rejected.

“This issue is very much not ‘dividing’ the party writ large,” said Johnson. “Support for cutting aid to Israel among Dems is 74-20. Only 13% of Democrats have a positive view of Israel—less than the percentage of Democrats who support full abortion bans.”

The “divide,” said Johnson, is between voters and the party leadership, particularly Democrats who—like Jeffries—have taken millions of dollars from the pro-Israel lobby.

“Why does Democratic leadership continue to oppose a measure supported by 74% of Democratic voters?” asked Johnson. “Where are all the popularism pundits decrying the Democrats’ out-of-touch leadership, ignoring a broadly popular position, one also supported by the majority of independents?”

Jeffries said in the Dear Colleague letter that his opposition to the amendment was “consistent” with that of “pro-peace organizations like J Street.”

J Street, which describes itself as a “pro-peace” and “liberal Zionist” group, expressed opposition to the amendment, but said it would also “support those members who vote yes to signal their opposition to unconditional [foreign military financing] and support for stronger oversight of how US security assistance is used.”

Erik Sperling, executive director of the progressive think tank Just Foreign Policy, said J Street’s “hedging” on the amendment was “a moral stain” for the organization.

“Genuine pro-peace groups cannot allow billions in US taxpayer money to be sent to [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s Israel now,” said Sperling.

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