Rep. Ritchie Torres pushed back Monday against politicians who blame Israel for high living costs in the United States, calling the argument scapegoating and “a dangerous lie.”
In a post on X, Torres said annual U.S. funding for Israel amounts to less than one-tenth of 1% of the federal budget. He also said the same amount would cover only a few hours of federal health care spending.
“Yet politicians who specialize in scapegoating would have you believe that Israel is responsible for America’s affordability crisis,” he wrote. “Like every form of scapegoating before it, it is a dangerous lie.”
A dispute over spending priorities
Torres did not name individual politicians in the post. He also did not specify a fiscal year, identify the funding total behind his comparison or link to a calculation of federal health spending. The percentages and hours are his stated comparisons, rather than independently established figures in this report.
A Congressional Research Service report on U.S. aid to Israel describes the regular military-assistance framework separately from additional funding. The 10-year agreement covering fiscal 2019 through 2028 provides for $3.3 billion a year in Foreign Military Financing and $500 million a year for missile defense, subject to congressional appropriations.
The distinction matters when comparing figures: a regular annual funding commitment is not the same measure as all spending or supplemental assistance in a particular year.
Torres’s post argued against using aid to Israel as an explanation for American households’ affordability problems. It did not announce a new funding measure or a change in U.S. aid policy.
JBizNews Desk | Washington
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