Jim Risch

Deep Dive

Risch is Idaho's senior senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, having been its ranking member before that. By his own account he is one of four members of Congress who sign off on major arms sales before they proceed, and that is the ground he argues from.

When the administration held back a shipment of precision weapons in May 2024, which was a pause on 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs, he spoke at a Senate Republican press conference and set out the objection: "Congress passed funding, the administration allowed these weapons sales", the four members had signed off, "and now in the heat of battle, this administration is saying" it would pull them back. He called that unprecedented, said it would be watched by both enemies and allies, and closed: "This was a horrible mistake." The day after, on the administration's report assessing the government of Israel's use of American weapons, he said it "has given Israel a politically damaging assessment while publicly announcing it is withholding a select set of precision weapons" and was attempting to placate voters on the far left at the expense of a close ally. He had already written to the administration with the House Foreign Affairs chairman asking that the reporting framework be repealed, and when it was revoked in February 2025 he called the repeal "excellent news".

On money for Palestinians he has been just as explicit, and in the opposite direction. In February 2024 he was one of three senators who led twenty-one colleagues in demanding that any national security bill carry "an immediate and permanent prohibition" of U.S. aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. The letter's words are the twenty-four signatories' together: "The United States must permanently stop all contributions to UNRWA." He is also a Senate sponsor of a bill to hold that agency's funding until the State Department certifies it meets a list of conditions, which he first introduced in 2021.

He has argued against a different route for aid too. Objecting on the Senate floor in May 2025 to a resolution on conditions in Gaza, he said "we have no disagreement about the suffering that's going on in Gaza" and then placed the fault elsewhere: "This is not Israel's fault." His argument against sending food was practical rather than moral: "if we send trucks of food in there—who eats? The Hamas soldiers eat." He said the war could end at once if the hostages were released, and objected to the resolution because it did not "lay the fault where it belongs".

His recorded votes are on this card and they match all of it: every resolution that would have blocked a specific U.S. arms sale to the government of Israel, he voted against. Those sales were 120-millimetre tank rounds, high-explosive mortar rounds and JDAM bomb guidance kits in November 2024, roughly $8.8 billion of bombs and guidance kits in April 2025 including $2.04 billion of 2,000-pound bombs, 1,000-pound bombs with JDAM kits and automatic rifles in July 2025, and armoured bulldozers and 1,000-pound bombs in April 2026. By that last pair of votes the Gaza health ministry had reported 72,344 people killed, 20,179 of them children. Nothing on this record shows him supporting any condition, restriction or reduction on weapons for the government of Israel.

The record

Supported sending weapons or funding in 10 of 10 tracked votes

Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

• Voted 'Nay' on all three Nov. 20, 2024 motions to discharge Israel arms-sale disapproval resolutions from committee: S.J.Res.111 (Vote 292, rejected 18-79), S.J.Res.113 (Vote 293, rejected 19-78), and S.J.Res.115 (Vote 294, rejected 17-80), voting against blocking each sale.

• Voted 'Nay' on both Apr. 3, 2025 motions to discharge Israel arms-sale disapproval resolutions: S.J.Res.33 (Vote 165, rejected 15-82) and S.J.Res.26 (Vote 166, rejected 15-83).

• Voted 'Nay' on both Jul. 30, 2025 motions to discharge Israel arms-sale disapproval resolutions: S.J.Res.41 (Vote 454, rejected 27-70) and S.J.Res.34 (Vote 455, rejected 24-73).

• Voted 'Nay' on both Apr. 15, 2026 motions to discharge Israel arms-sale disapproval resolutions: S.J.Res.32 (Vote 80, rejected 40-59) and S.J.Res.138 (Vote 81, rejected 36-63), even as a record number of senators voted to block the sales.

• As ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, publicly opposed the Biden administration's NSM-20 framework tying U.S. security assistance to human-rights compliance, calling it 'failed foreign policy' aimed 'squarely at Israel,' and (with House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul) urged its repeal.

The money

$15K in lifetime support from the five lobbying groups we track

In their words

AIPAC (2026 endorsement)

Research log

The notes behind this card: what we looked at, what we found, and where each item came from.

U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel

• [Position, 2024-05-09] Remarks at a Senate Republican press conference on the pause of arms shipments, read and verified verbatim: "We have a situation here where Congress passed funding, the administration allowed these weapons sales, myself and the other three members of Congress who closely look at these sales – and take that obligation seriously – also signed off on it, and now in the heat of battle, this administration is saying ‘we’re gonna pull this back.’ This is unprecedented. It’s going to be watched by our enemies. It’s going to be watched by our allies. And it is not helpful to the national security of the United States." The release closes: "This was a horrible mistake." The page notes the remarks were lightly edited for clarity.
• [Position, 2024-05-10] Statement on the administration's National Security Memorandum 20 report, verified verbatim: "In keeping with nearly four years of failed foreign policy, the Biden Administration is trying to have it both ways. Today, the administration has given Israel a politically damaging assessment while publicly announcing it is withholding a select set of precision weapons. The administration is attempting to placate voters on the far left at the expense of a close ally in the midst of its justified war with Hamas terrorists." The same page records that on 2024-04-30 he wrote with the House Foreign Affairs chairman urging repeal of that framework, which tied U.S. security assistance to human rights compliance.
• [Position, 2024-05-15] With the House Foreign Affairs chairman he wrote to the president about the pause on weapons shipments, pressing on the absence of prior notice to Congress.
• [Position, 2025-02-24] Statement as chairman, on the revocation of that framework, verified verbatim: "President Trump’s repeal of the Biden Administration’s NSM-20 is excellent news. The Biden policy was ultimately nothing more than a virtue signal to the progressive left in an effort to influence domestic election politics--it was conceived of as a means to embarrass our ally Israel in its time of need."
• [Position, 2025-04-03 and 2026-04-15] He spoke on the Senate floor against the joint resolutions of disapproval that would have blocked specific foreign military sales to the government of Israel. The floor video is on YouTube; the votes themselves are the evidence below.
• [Position, 2024 to 2026] Nine recorded votes against motions to discharge arms-sale disapproval resolutions, on November 20 2024, April 3 2025, July 30 2025 and April 15 2026, plus a vote for the 2024 national security supplemental. Each was 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.

U.S. aid to Palestinians

• [Position, 2024-02-02] With Senators Tim Scott and Pete Ricketts he led twenty-one colleagues in a letter to the Senate leaders demanding that any national security supplemental include "an immediate and permanent prohibition" of U.S. aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East. Opened and verified verbatim: "Let us be crystal clear: last week’s revelation that UNRWA staff members played a part in the October 7 attacks is not an example of a few bad apples acting out of turn. Instead, it is emblematic of an organization where no investigation or subsequent corrective measures will ever be enough to cure the rot that is so clearly endemic to its mission." And: "The United States must permanently stop all contributions to UNRWA." The letter is dated eight days after the reaction-window boundary, so it is position-band material.

⚠ **Twenty-four-signatory letter.** The words are the signers' together. The card says he helped lead the demand and quotes nothing to him alone.

• [Earlier record, 2021-04-22] He led twenty Senate Republicans in a letter to the Secretary of State calling for U.S. funding to the same agency to be paused until it was restructured, reported by Jewish Insider.
• [Earlier record, 2021-07-27] He introduced the UNRWA Accountability and Transparency Act with Representative Chip Roy, to hold U.S. money to the agency until the State Department certifies a list of conditions, announced on Roy's House site. The February 2024 letter above names the same bill as still live in that Congress.
• [Position, 2025-05-20] On the Senate floor, objecting to a resolution about conditions in Gaza, he argued against sending food in (committee press page, verified verbatim): "But if we send trucks of food in there—who eats? The Hamas soldiers eat. They starve the women, and they starve the children." And: "If they release the hostages, they lay down their arms, and they surrender, not one more bullet will be fired. And there will be scads of trucks coming into Gaza." The page notes the remarks were lightly edited for clarity.

Characterization of the conflict

• [Position, 2024-05-10] "its justified war with Hamas terrorists", in the statement above.
• [Position, 2024-07-24] Statement after Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress, verified verbatim: "Our Israeli partners deserve unwavering American support as they continue the necessary work to bring all the hostages home, dismantle Hamas, and counter an increasingly aggressive Iranian regime. Any division between Israel and the United States is an opportunity for Hamas to continue terrorizing Israelis and Palestinians."
• [Position, 2025-05-20] From the same floor remarks, verified verbatim: "First of all, we have no disagreement about the suffering that's going on in Gaza." And: "This is the fault of a group of people. And that group of people is Hamas." And: "This is not Israel's fault."
• [Position, 2025-09-22] Statement on allies recognizing a Palestinian state, published September 22, 2025 and verified verbatim: "Our allies’ recognition of a purported Palestinian state is a tragedy for those it seeks to support: the Palestinian people. This recognition rewards Hamas, a terror group that thrust millions of Gazans into a terrible war, that uses Palestinian women and children as human shields, and that relies on their suffering for its political success." And: "A brighter path exists for the Palestinian people. It lays in a future where Hamas is eliminated, where tolerance and peace are rewarded not punished."
• [Position, 2025-10-06] A statement ahead of the second anniversary of the attack on Israel on the same committee site; noted, not opened.
• [Position, 2025-09-10] Remarks at a Washington conference, reported by the Jerusalem Post: he said Hamas leaders based in Qatar "deserve to meet their end" and named Iran as the funder of regional armed groups. Reported speech in a secondary carrier; not opened, and not used on the card.

Related rhetoric and lobbying

• American Israel Public Affairs Committee support this cycle and Republican Jewish Coalition lifetime support are badges on this card and are not restated.
• [Position, 2025-05-06] He introduced a bill barring U.S. assistance to United Nations bodies that give the Palestinian Authority or the Palestine Liberation Organization standing beyond observer status (committee announcement). It reaches U.S. money, but through United Nations procedure rather than through aid itself, which is why it sits here and not on the card.
• [Position, 2024-11-15] He co-introduced a bill to cut U.S. funding to any United Nations agency that restricts the government of Israel's participation, announced by Senator Dan Sullivan's office.
• [Position, 2025-03-31] With Representative Brian Mast he warned the United Nations Secretary-General of sanctions if the Human Rights Council created special investigatory powers directed at the government of Israel.
• [Position, 2025-07-02] He said Ireland was on an antisemitic path over a bill restricting trade with Israeli settlements, reported by the Irish Times and by Algemeiner. Reported speech in secondary carriers; not opened.

Safety and antisemitism (context)

• [Earlier record, 2021-05-27] He introduced a Senate resolution condemning the worldwide rise in antisemitic attacks (committee announcement). The resolution also names the boycott movement; the acronym is not used in text we write.
• [Position, 2025-04-30] Reintroducing the United Nations bill above, he called attempts to change the government of Israel's standing there antisemitic (committee announcement).
• [Position, 2025-11-19] Opening statement at a nomination hearing on the same subject at the United Nations.

Race and status context

• Idaho's senior senator and the Republican nominee for another term; Wikipedia's race page records the field. His campaign site is recorded on this record at senatorrisch.com; it is named rather than linked because it was not among the addresses re-checked.
• His vote sources are the official Senate roll-call pages linked above.
• A campaigning site, boughtbyzionism.org, carries a page about him. It is an advocacy compilation rather than a record of his words, and nothing on the card rests on it.