Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is leading a bipartisan group of lawmakers to Israel this week, just five weeks before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu travels to Washington to address a joint meeting of Congress.
Hoyer has traditionally been the top House Democrat to lead a summer trip to Israel, usually joined by a top House Republican. For example, Hoyer has run trips with former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor and former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Neither Speaker Mike Johnson nor House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is on this trip. Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), the 44th in House seniority and the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on the Middle East, is expected to be on this trip.
Netanyahu will be in Washington on July 24 to address a joint meeting of Congress. It could be one of the most divisive speeches in recent congressional history. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that he wouldn’t be going — a growing trend inside the House Democratic Caucus:
