Thomas Cotton
Cotton introduced a bill to force delivery of weapons the administration had withheld from the government of Israel and to cancel the salaries of officials who withheld them. He told the Senate that "Israel doesn't have any responsibility to send a single loaf of bread to Gaza".
Cotton is Arkansas's senior senator, seeking a third term, and one of the Senate's most direct voices on this question.
In May 2024, when the administration paused a bomb shipment, he introduced the Israel Security Assistance Support Act with twenty-three Republican cosponsors. It would have compelled delivery of the withheld weapons and cancelled the salary of any Defense or State Department official who acted to withhold them. His announcement called the pause "a de facto arms embargo on Israel" and "a betrayal of one of our most important allies as it fights an existential war for survival".
He has also opposed tying weapons to conditions. In an October 2024 letter to the president about the threat to restrict arms over humanitarian access to Gaza, he wrote that "Denying Israel military aid is in direct opposition to the will of Congress", and added, of the administration: "Your administration insists on protecting a terrorist organization in the name of humanitarian aid."
On the aid question he is equally explicit. In a Senate floor speech in July 2025 he argued that hunger in Gaza is Hamas's doing rather than a shortage of supplies, that aid mechanisms run by the United Nations have been infiltrated, and that "Israel doesn't have any responsibility to send a single loaf of bread to Gaza." Months earlier he had put the same view more sharply, comparing the demand for aid to feeding an enemy in wartime. His votes match all of it: every resolution that would have blocked a specific arms sale or export licence to the government of Israel, he voted against.
Tracked votes: backed sending U.S. weapons or funding to the government of Israel in 10 of 10 recorded votes.
Research
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
- [Position, 2024-05-14] Introduced the Israel Security Assistance Support Act with twenty-three Republican cosponsors, verified verbatim: "President Biden's decision to impose a de facto arms embargo on Israel is a betrayal of one of our most important allies as it fights an existential war for survival. This bill will reverse Joe Biden's arms embargo and withhold the salaries of officials who implement it." A colleague's release on the same bill sets out its mechanics.
- [Position, 2024-06-20] Statement that the administration was delaying arms shipments, accompanying a letter to the president about stalled congressional notifications.
- [Position, 2024-10-16] Letter to President Biden opposing conditioning arms on humanitarian access to Gaza: "Denying Israel military aid is in direct opposition to the will of Congress, as expressed in the Israeli security supplemental passed earlier this year. Unilaterally threatening to cut off aid by declaring Israel in violation of U.S. law also ignores Congress's oversight role. Your administration insists on protecting a terrorist organization in the name of humanitarian aid."
- [Position, 2024 to 2026] Nine recorded votes against motions to discharge arms-sale disapproval resolutions, each cross-checked against the official roll call, for example S.J.Res. 111 and S.J.Res. 138. The card renders them; the prose does not re-list them.
- [Position, 2026, unread carrier] He is reported to have sponsored provisions of the Senate intelligence authorisation bill limiting a president's power to suspend intelligence sharing with Israel without notifying Congress. The carriers offered are a Facebook post that does not answer us and an opinion column that discusses the trend rather than his sponsorship. Not used on the card.
- [Reaction window, 2023-10-07] Statement on the day of the attack: "The United States should provide Israel the military and diplomatic support it needs to destroy Hamas. And the Biden administration should cease all engagement with Iran." Off the card (C1).
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- [Position, 2025-07-31] Senate floor speech, "Hamas is to Blame for Suffering in Gaza", on his own Senate site, opened and confirmed word for word. He argues that hunger in Gaza reflects Hamas diverting aid rather than any shortage: "children in Gaza aren't going hungry because of a lack of supplies from Israel; they're suffering because Hamas uses food and humanitarian aid as a weapon to stay in power." He describes United Nations aid pallets sitting undistributed, says the aid system "allowed Hamas to rake in more than half-a-billion dollars in profit", and concludes: "Put simply, Israel doesn't have any responsibility to send a single loaf of bread to Gaza."
- [Position, 2025-03-04] Earlier the same year he defended the decision to block aid entering Gaza, by analogy to Allied policy toward enemy states in the Second World War. The analogy is his; the card does not repeat it, and it is recorded here.
- [Position, 2024-10-16] The letter above is also a position on aid, in the negative: he objected to the administration using humanitarian access to Gaza as a condition on weapons.
Characterization of the conflict
- Carried inside the statements above, and in the July 2025 speech, which characterises the reporting of famine in Gaza as a Hamas propaganda campaign amplified by "gullible senators".
- [Position, 2025-02-11] Joined senators introducing a resolution that Hamas must not retain control of Gaza. The release named for it, on a colleague's Senate site, returns 403 to us, so it is not linked.
Related rhetoric and lobbying
- [Earlier record, 2021-07-29] Co-introduced a bill on country-of-origin labelling for goods made in Israeli-controlled areas. Predates the war; kept as history.
- American Israel Public Affairs Committee support of $9,993.24 this cycle and Republican Jewish Coalition lifetime support of $11,500 are badges on this card and are not restated.
- An advocacy site, https://www.boughtbyzionism.org/tom_cotton, catalogues his record and donations. It opens, but it is a campaigning page rather than a document, so nothing is taken from it.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
- [Position, 2024-04-16] The Guardian reported his remarks about demonstrators blocking roads.
- [Position, 2024-04-23] Called for the National Guard to be sent to university campuses.
- [Position, 2024-05-01] At a press conference with Senate colleagues on campus protests; Axios covered his remarks.
- [Position, 2025-03-11] Introduced two bills aimed at universities and at students convicted of offences during campus demonstrations.
- These are context on his approach to protest and antisemitism, not answers on what the United States sends, and they are not used as such.
Race and status context
- Republican nominee for re-election; his cosponsor and vote receipts are the official Senate roll-call pages linked from the card.
- The Democratic candidate in the same race has her own card in this batch.
Also in this race: Hallie Shoffner (Democrat) · All Arkansas candidates.
See the full record →But What Can You Do? tracks where 2026 candidates stand on U.S. weapons and funding for the government of Israel. Every claim on this page goes through at least two verification steps. Open the interactive card for votes, funding and contact details.