Progressive members of Congress are seeking to end the congressionally and administratively mandated pause on UNRWA funding, according to new legislation introduced Friday morning by Reps. Pramila Jayapal, André Carson (D-IN) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).
At least 65 other representatives signed on to co-sponsor the legislation.
"The United States has historically been one of the largest financial supporters of UNRWA, which serves nearly 6 million Palestinian refugees across the West Bank, east Jerusalem, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon. In March of this year, the US paused UNRWA funding after the Israeli government alleged that 12 agency employees had direct involvement in Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack," a statement from Jayapal's office said.
"Following the UN’s investigation and proactive commitments made by UNRWA toward complete accountability and reform, all countries except the US have resumed their UNRWA funding, including the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Finland, Germany, Japan, and Sweden.
Notably, progressive Jewish organization J Street is also behind the bill, with its president Jeremy Ben-Ami saying, "We should restore funding, as all our major allies have, and stop playing politics with Palestinian welfare and Israel’s security."
White House comments on the bill
National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby commented on the legislation Friday morning, saying the White House's position has been "very consistent since we paused funding to UNRWA earlier this year."
That pause was following allegations that a number of their employees were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack, he added.
In light of the fact that there is still an ongoing crisis in Gaza, and the essential role that UNRWA does play in the distribution of life saving assistance, Kirby said the US continues to support funding for UNRWA with appropriate safeguards, transparency measures built in and "obviously" with accountability also baked into that.
"We believe that all of those efforts should include, for example, a requirement that the executive branch, certified in Congress, that UNRWA has implemented the proper policies and procedures to include the vetting of their personnel, any plans that they have for investigating credible reports of violations of those policies and procedures," Kirby said.
Kirby said the White House did support a provision in the March, 2024 Appropriations Act to that effect, but it was not included in what became law.
"So bottom line: been consistent, we continue to support the essential role that UNRWA plays, and therefore support funding for UNRWA. But again, I want to stress, with the appropriate safeguards, with transparency measures built in, and certainly with a provision for accountability," he said.
"And we're going to look forward to working with other partners, Japan, UK, Italy, Sweden, Germany, Canada, others, to ensure that those appropriate safeguards are adequate to the task and to help secure appropriate funding levels for UNRWA's humanitarian mission."