Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.), and Tom Carper (D., Del.) were the only senators to oppose a bipartisan resolution in favor of making Jerusalem the permanent home for the U.S. embassy in Israel.
The Senate overwhelmingly voted Thursday night in favor of keeping the U.S. embassy in Israel’s capital city. The 97-3 vote came as part of an amendment offered to a massive budgetary bill passed in an overnight session of the Senate. The amendment, introduced by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R., Okla.), allocated money in the bill to maintain the embassy in Jerusalem, effectively preventing the Biden administration or future administrations from moving the embassy.
Moving the embassy was one of Trump’s signature foreign policy decisions, and President Joe Biden promised while on the campaign trail not to reverse the move, which formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city, bucking years of traditional American foreign policy positions on the city and its status.
"It's an important message that we acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of Israel," Inhofe said.
Warren, Sanders, and Carper did not return requests for comment on the vote.
During the Democratic primary debates last year, Sanders said he would consider reversing the move if he was elected president. Warren has also been an outspoken critic of moving the embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, arguing that the location of the embassy should be decided as part of negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
"We need to encourage both Israel and the Palestinians to negotiate with each other," Warren said last year. "The United States should not be putting a thumb on the scale."
Sanders aide Matt Duss, a veteran anti-Israel activist who is reportedly up for a job in the State Department, is largely responsible for the senator's anti-Israel positions and opposition to any congressional measure meant to boost American support of Israel.