Sen.-Elect El-Sayed Backs Trump Proposal to End U.S. Aid to Israel
El-Sayed's public alignment with a Trump foreign policy position signals that the incoming Democratic Senate majority contains at least one member willing to cross party lines on U.S.-Israel aid,...
Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed (D) stated publicly on November 5, 2026, that he supports President Trump's proposal to halt U.S. Military aid to Israel, saying on MSNBC's "Morning Joe": "I agree with him on that. I don't think that we should be continuing to subsidize a foreign military that has done the worst things with our..." The statement was reported by The Hill.
El-Sayed's remarks are notable in the immediate aftermath of the 2026 midterm elections, in which Democrats won control of both the House and Senate. His public agreement with a Trump administration policy position on the day after those results were confirmed marks an early indicator of potential cross-party alignment on a contentious foreign policy question.
The United States provided Israel with approximately $3.8 billion in annual military assistance under the terms of a 10-year memorandum of understanding signed in 2016, according to the State Department's publicly available foreign assistance data. Additional emergency supplemental appropriations were passed by Congress in fiscal years 2024 and 2025. The exact current annual figure under any revised agreement would be contained in the most recent State Department foreign operations budget request and any subsequent congressional appropriations legislation.
El-Sayed, a physician and former candidate for Michigan governor in 2018, won his Senate seat in the November 4, 2026, general election. His election was part of the broader Democratic wave documented in public election returns. Michigan has a substantial Arab-American population concentrated in metro Detroit, a demographic that has vocally opposed U.S. Military support for Israel since the onset of the Gaza conflict in October 2023.
President Trump's proposal to end or reduce U.S. Military aid to Israel has not, as of November 5, 2026, been codified in a formal legislative proposal, executive order, or published budget request available in public federal records. The specific mechanism, timeline, and scope of any such policy change remain unknown. A formal executive order, a revised State Department congressional budget justification, or a White House Office of Management and Budget document would be the records that would define those details.
The question of U.S.-Israel aid has drawn responses from members of both parties in recent weeks. As The Congressional Times reported, Congress Members From Both Parties Question U.S.-Israel Aid Framework After Midterms, indicating that El-Sayed's position is not isolated within the broader post-election congressional landscape.
Republican responses to El-Sayed's statement had not been recorded in available public statements or congressional records as of the time of publication. It is unknown whether any other incoming Democratic senators have made similar public statements endorsing the Trump administration's Israel aid position.
El-Sayed does not yet hold voting power in the Senate. He will be sworn in when the new Congress convenes, at which point any vote on aid legislation would be recorded in the Congressional Record. No Senate floor vote on Israel aid has been scheduled as of November 5, 2026, according to the publicly available Senate majority leader's floor schedule.
What remains unknown is the exact text and scope of the Trump administration's Israel aid proposal, whether it requires congressional authorization or can be executed through executive action, and how many other incoming Democratic or Republican senators would support or oppose such a measure. The Office of Management and Budget, the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, and any forthcoming Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing record would be the primary public documents to watch.