WASHINGTON (JTA) — Two Republican senators introduced legislation that would deny the president the right to waive a law mandating a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem Embassy and Recognition Act, which was introduced Tuesday by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Dean Heller (R-Nev.), would withhold at least half the funding for building of overseas embassies until the United States moves its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and strikes the president’s right to waive the 1995 law mandating the transfer of the embassy.
Successive presidents have waived the law, citing U.S. national security interests.
“It is long past due for our government to finally and unequivocally recognize Israel’s historical capital both in word and deed,” Cruz said in a statement issued Tuesday.
The Orthodox Union welcomed the proposal.
“The holy city of Jerusalem has always been, and must remain, the indivisible capital of Israel,” it said in a statement.
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