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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL), Bill Hagerty (R-TN), and Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced a standalone supplemental appropriations bill to fund Israel’s Iron Dome. Following the House of Representatives’ overwhelming support for the Iron Dome, Rubio’s Iron Dome Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2022 would provide Israel with $1 billion in additional emergency aid to replenish its missile defense system. Earlier this year, Rubio and Hagerty introduced the Emergency Resupply for Iron Dome Act of 2021 to authorize the Executive Branch to redirect U.S. foreign assistance to help Israel replenish its highly-effective missile defense interceptors. In July, Rubio led a letter to Senate Committee on Appropriations Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Vice Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) urging them to support Israel’s emergency request of “$1 billion in security assistance in order to replenish and prepare its Iron Dome missile defense system for a future conflict.”

“In May, the world watched as Hamas indiscriminately launched rockets against civilians in Israel,” Rubio said. “Were it not for the Iron Dome, many more Israeli lives would have been lost. We cannot allow partisan politics to stand in the way of standing with our closest democratic ally in the Middle East as it continues to face the threat of Iranian-backed terrorists.” 

“I’m pleased to support emergency funding to replenish and upgrade Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system after Israel’s 11-day conflict with Hamas,” Hagerty said. “Iron Dome, which is the product of U.S. and Israeli defense cooperation, has saved countless lives — Israeli and Palestinian — from rocket attacks by Hamas and other Iran-backed Palestinian terrorist groups. It’s disgraceful that some anti-Israel House Democrats pressured House leadership initially to block funding for U.S.-Israel Iron Dome cooperation. This bill seeks to right that wrong.”

“The Iron Dome has been an enormous success and has saved countless lives. During the conflict in Gaza last spring, in which thousands of rockets were launched at Israeli civilians by the terrorist groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, this highly advanced missile defense system successfully intercepted 90 percent of the rockets it targeted,” Collins said. “Israel is America’s closest and only fully democratic ally in the Middle East, and the U.S. should provide this aid to support this critical defensive system that Israel needs to protect its people from terrorism.”

Rubio is a member of the Senate Committee on Appropriations and a senior member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.