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House votes to cut salary of suspended Iran envoy, continue to fund UNRWA

Congress also voted overwhelmingly to keep the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem and maintain the terror designation of the IRGC.

The U.S. Capitol in Washington. Photo by Orhan Cam/Shutterstock.
The U.S. Capitol in Washington. Photo by Orhan Cam/Shutterstock.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted on Thursday night to pass appropriations bills for the U.S. Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and State. The votes were 218-210, 220-208 and 216-212, respectively. The bills now head to the Senate.

An amendment to the U.S. State Department appropriations bill, which passed by a voice vote, reduced the salary of suspended Iran special envoy Robert Malley to $1.

Another amendment, which failed by a 213-218 vote, sought to “prohibit any funds from being made available for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency,” or UNRWA.

Congress also voted overwhelmingly to maintain the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem (360-67) and to keep designating Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terror organization (351-81), Jewish Insider reported, although neither was reported to be under serious consideration.

“We have a really simple mission that binds everyone together,” Catherine Reed, CEO of American Friends of Magen David Adom, told JNS. “We save lives.”
“They will push legislation very hard to end the Iran war, and it’s not inconceivable that they could get a fair amount of Republican support for that,” William Galston of Brookings told JNS.
More than 7.3 million Israelis are eligible to vote at 12,018 regular polling stations nationwide.
The Shin Bet, social media platforms and independent researchers are working to expose influence operations and protect election systems.