Could chaos in Congress slow US response in Israel-Gaza war?

Jonathan Lord, senior fellow and director of the Middle East security programme at the Centre for a New American Security, said the House was going through “unprecedented times”.

Mr Lord said that rules are “opaque” regarding Congress's ability to act on increasing support for Israel without a speaker of the House.

Mr Biden “is going to need more support in the form of a supplemental [spending approval] once he's either exhausted the US stock supply or feels he can't deplete it any further,” Mr Lord, who previously worked on the staff of the House armed services committee, told The National.

He believes with strong enough bipartisan support to push relevant legislation through, Mr McHenry “could get legislation passed to support Israel in this conflict … but the adults in the room need to prevail".

“Checks and balances require the US Congress to function. If it doesn't function, things go bad really fast even before we get to these types of crises," he said.

"If the Congress can't get itself into a position where it can enact legislation, that's detrimental in massive ways.”

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