Despite widespread criticism of the International Criminal Court (ICC) over its recent indictments of senior Israeli and Hamas officials, the leading Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has threatened to halt the committee’s ability to consider nominees and legislation until sanctions against the ICC are passed.
Republican Senator Jim Risch’s anger with the inability to strike an agreement is evident in the bold move in a committee known for bipartisan cooperation. This comes after a similar bill cleared the House last week with the support of 42 Democrats. The news broke first on Punchbowl News.
“According to a source familiar with the dynamics, there were multiple phone calls between a bipartisan group of senators who were motivated to work on legislation regarding the ICC. However, it appears that motivation has faded away over the past three weeks,” the source said.
According to Suzanne Wrasse, a spokesman for Senator Risch, the senator from Idaho “is willing to pursue multiple avenues for the Senate to work on ICC legislation. However, despite several offers made by Risch and his colleagues to negotiate, Democrats have not responded substantively and we haven’t made progress:”
With less and fewer legislative days remaining before the August recess, Republicans are of the opinion that the Senate should accept a sanctions package that has already passed the House.
The head of the Senate’s foreign relations committee, Ben Cardin (D-MD), meanwhile, has called the House plan a “divisive partisan bill” and has stated his intention to work with Republicans to advance sanctions legislation that is acceptable to both parties.
He emphasized that the US-Israel relationship as a whole deserves the same united support as the defense of Israel from this biased and unjust indictment. “A bipartisan bill has become more challenging due to Republican political maneuvering, but I have persisted in speaking with Republicans who are sincere about wanting to move forward in a bipartisan way.”
During the afternoon of Tuesday, Cardin met with Chuck Schumer, the majority leader of the Senate. With no apparent way out of the impasse in sight, Cardin left Schumer’s office, but he promised to keep working with Risch and other Republicans to discover a bipartisan solution that would win over President Joe Biden.
“A bipartisan bill is necessary if we are to reach the finish line,” he stated.
Our cordial friendship will remain between Sen. Risch and me. “I’ve heard this before,” he said in response to Risch’s worries. “This is nothing new. We complement each other nicely.
X posted by Risch that he hopes the ICC bill will be discussed at the next committee meeting.
