Deluzio Joins 40+ Colleagues in Letter to State Dept. Demanding Transparency in U.S. Loan Support to Israel

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Last week, Congressman Chris Deluzio (PA-17) joined 43 lawmakers asking the State Department to comply with United States law and report how much Israel is spending on settlement activity.

For more than twenty years, U.S. law has required conditions on loan guarantees to Israel. These conditions include limiting any U.S. loan assistance to settlements within Israel's pre-1967 borders and lowering the amount of available loan guarantees by the amount of Israel's public expenditures on illegal settlements in the West Bank.

The State Department is required by law to report these amounts to Congress.

"To enforce the prohibition of the use of the loan guarantees for settlement activity, the statute further provides that the amount of guarantees available 'shall be reduced by an amount equal to the amount extended or is estimated to have extended by the Government of Israel during the previous year for activities which the President determines are inconsistent with the objectives of this section or understandings reached between the United States Government and the Government of Israel regarding the implementation of the loan program,'" write the Members of Congress.

The lawmakers noted that,"the annual reports submitted by the Department of State under this provision have not, for at least a decade, provided the specific calculated figure the statute requires…"

"The substitution of a categorical assertion for a specific figure has deprived Congress of information it is legally entitled to receive and rendered the deduction mechanism opaque for over a decade," write the lawmakers.

The congressmembers also voiced concerns about the Trump Administration's possible extension of the loan guarantee program without making necessary reductions from settlements in the West Bank: "If the administration is considering issuing new sovereign loan guarantees, including to Israel, it is essential that existing provisions in law…be followed."

The lawmakers requested that Secretary of State Marco Rubio provide answers about U.S. loan assistance to Israel settlement efforts no later than July 1, 2026.

The full text of the letter is available HERE.

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