Schumer Rejected Curbs on $446.8 Million in Israel Arms

Card photograph: ARCHIVE. Chuck Schumer speaks at the Stop the SAVE Act rally outside the U.S. Capitol, 2026-03-18. G. Edward Johnson, CC BY 4.0. Cropped for the card. License. Source photograph.

Chuck Schumer voted on April 15 against advancing two resolutions to block Israeli purchases of U.S. bombs and bulldozers worth $446.8 million. In the same Senate session, he sought to remove U.S. forces from unauthorized hostilities against Iran. His opposition to direct U.S. warfare stopped short of restricting those supplies to Israel.

The Senate Daily Press Gallery’s record identifies Schumer among the Democrats opposing both arms motions. One concerned S.J.Res. 32 and Caterpillar bulldozers; the other concerned S.J.Res. 138 and bombs. The motions to discharge those resolutions from committee failed 40–59 and 36–63 respectively. These were procedural votes to bring sale-blocking resolutions forward, not final passage of an embargo on every weapon.

Two sales worth $446.8 million

The proposed transfers were specific. Bernie Sanders’s announcement of the votes identified $151.8 million for 12,000 BLU-110 A/B 1,000-pound bombs and related support, plus $295 million for D9R and D9T Caterpillar bulldozers, parts and assistance. Together, the packages totaled $446.8 million.

Chuck Schumer, official Senate portrait, 2017. Jeff McEvoy / U.S. Senate Photographic Studio Source photograph. Public domain. License.

Sanders argued that the bulldozers were implicated in destroying Palestinian homes and that further bomb deliveries would deepen U.S. responsibility for Israel’s military actions. The packages placed specific transfers before senators, unlike Jeffries’s broader proposal to restructure military aid.

Schumer also brought forward S.J.Res. 123, seeking removal of U.S. armed forces from hostilities against Iran that Congress had not authorized. The motion failed 47–52. He supported withdrawing American forces while opposing the two restrictions on Israeli arms purchases.

Most of the Democratic caucus backed restrictions

Reuters’s account of the April 15 votes found that seven Democrats joined Republicans against advancing the bulldozer resolution and eleven did so on the bombs. Those totals placed Schumer against most of his own caucus on both measures, rather than at the center of a unified Democratic position.

Supporters of the sales argued that Israel remained an important ally to which Washington should supply military equipment. Sanders argued that the proposed transfers violated criteria in the Foreign Assistance Act and Arms Export Control Act. The competing positions concerned whether the alliance justified continued deliveries or whether the weapons’ use required withholding them.

The distinction between a congressional grant and an arms sale matters here. A senator can oppose direct American participation in a war while allowing an allied government to purchase U.S. equipment. Blocking these particular packages would not itself have ended the entire security relationship. Schumer’s votes preserved that relationship’s supply channels while his Iran resolution sought to limit U.S. forces.