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Top Foreign Policy Reps Urge Obama not to cut Israeli Missile Defense Funding

February 15, 2012

Two of the House’s top foreign policy voices have petitioned President Obama to reconsider his proposal to reduce U.S. missile defense funding to Israel.

Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Howard McKeon, respectively the chairs of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the House Armed Services Committee, jointly write that they are "deeply concerned" over Obama’s "record low support for this vital defense cooperation program," which was first reported on by the Washington Free Beacon.

"We respectfully urge, in the strongest terms, that you reconsider your budget request," Ros-Lehtinen and McKeon write, according to a copy of the letter obtained by WFB.

For the second straight year, the Obama administration has proposed to reduce the level of funding for Israel’s critical Arrow and David’s Sling defense systems. This despite the president’s repeated declarations that the U.S. has an "iron-clad commitment" to Israel’s security.

IRL-HPM Israel Letter 2-14-12

Published under: Federal Budget