Henry Cuellar
Cuellar's tracked votes point both ways: against the November 2023 standalone aid bill, then for the 2024 packages and against amendments cutting military aid to the government of Israel. Welcoming the 2025 peace agreement, he said Israel must retain the means to defend itself.
Cuellar represents Texas's 28th District, from Laredo along the border up toward San Antonio. He is the sitting member and sits on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.
His votes point both ways and the exception is unexplained. He voted against H.R. 6126, the November 2023 standalone package that paired $14.3 billion for the government of Israel with cuts to Internal Revenue Service funding, and then for the 2024 aid packages and against the amendments of 2025 and 2026 that would have cut military aid. No statement of his explaining the November vote was located, so that badge stands without his reasons.
His own words since are on his House site. In June 2025, responding to Israel's strikes on Iran, he wrote: "Faced with an existential threat, Israel acted to protect its citizens and prevent a nuclear-armed adversary from gaining ground. I support Israel's right to defend itself and to take the necessary steps to ensure the safety of its people." The same release closes on his appropriator's role: "I remain focused on strengthening our strategic partnerships, supporting our allies, and safeguarding peace and security at home and abroad", a sentence that names no country. In October 2025 he welcomed the Israel-Hamas peace agreement as bringing "relief and hope after two years of immense suffering" and said the coming days would require "accountability and cooperation to ensure Hamas fully abides by its commitments and that Israel retains the means to defend itself against future threats."
Nothing located has him addressing U.S. humanitarian aid for Palestinians as a question of its own, at any date.
Tracked votes: backed sending U.S. weapons or funding to the government of Israel in 5 of 6 recorded votes.
Research
U.S. military aid and weapons to Israel
- His recorded votes on the tracked bills appear as badges on this card and point both ways; the grounding for each sits in the record section. The November 2023 exception (a No on H.R. 6126, the standalone package offset by Internal Revenue Service cuts) has no located explanation in his words, which the card says plainly.
- [Position, 2025-06-13] His House release on Israel's strikes against Iran. Opened and confirmed word for word. Quoted spans on the card match character for character.
⚠ **A gather sharpening caught and not used.** The supplied summary rendered his closing sentence as remaining focused on "supporting U.S. allies, including Israel". The release's own sentence is: "As a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittees on Defense and Homeland Security, I remain focused on strengthening our strategic partnerships, supporting our allies, and safeguarding peace and security at home and abroad." It names no country, and the card quotes it as written with that limit stated.
- [Position, 2025-02-12, reported and uncorroborated] The supplied research reports that he introduced legislation to enhance bilateral defense cooperation between the United States and Israel, and marks the claim uncorroborated. Its only carrier, https://legiscan.com/US/people/henry-cuellar/id/8965?page=2&record=all&chamber=house&status=introduced&type=bill, returns 403 to both routes. Under the standing rule a bill claim from a gather is never trusted without the pinned or official record, and no official record of this introduction was located. Nothing is claimed from it on the card.
U.S. aid to Palestinians
- Nothing located at any date. No statement, vote explanation or campaign material addressing U.S. humanitarian funding for Palestinians, the aid pipeline, or the United Nations Relief and Works Agency was found under his name.
Characterization of the conflict
- [Position, 2025-10-09] His release welcoming the Israel-Hamas peace agreement: a "historic achievement" bringing "relief and hope after two years of immense suffering", with the accountability sentence quoted on the card. Opened and confirmed.
- [Position, 2025-06-13] The June release characterizes Iran as directing and arming "terrorist proxies including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Houthis in Yemen" and frames Israel's strikes as a response to an existential threat (confirmed, above). Iran material stays off the card front under the standing rule; it is quoted here and used in the deep dive only as the context of his own statement.
- [Reaction window, 2023-10-16] His statement on the October 7 attack: a "barbaric attack", with Israel exercising an "indisputable right to self-defense under international law". Off the card (C1).
Related rhetoric and lobbying
- [Reaction window, 2023-11, reported, unverifiable] Media reports are said to cite a student account that he told an American University class he had personally lobbied House Democratic leadership to encourage primary challenges against colleagues strongly critical of Israel. Three independent reasons keep this off the card: the date is inside the reaction window (C1); the only addresses offered are one Facebook post by a news page that returns 400 to both routes and whose own visible summary concerns a different subject; and the supplied research itself marks the account single-source and uncorroborated. The wrong-account audit flagged both citations of this carrier. Recorded for the carrier desk; nothing claimed.
- He appears on Democratic Majority for Israel's December 2025 endorsement slate for the 2026 cycle, per the prior record on this card. Tracked funding totals appear as a badge on this card.
Safety and antisemitism (context)
- [Prior, 2022-01-19] Co-founded the Congressional Caucus for the Advancement of Torah Values with Representative Don Bacon, per Jewish News Syndicate. Opens and names him.
- [Prior, 2023-02-02] Original co-sponsor of House Resolution 92 recognizing Israel as a democratic ally and condemning antisemitism, per the lead sponsor's release. Opens; the release's list names him. A multi-sponsor measure, stated as such.
- [Reaction window, 2023-10-16] From the same October statement: comparing Israeli military actions to those of Nazis, or describing Gaza as a concentration camp, "fan the flames of antisemitism and have no place in public discourse". Off the card (C1).
Race and status context
- Sitting representative, nominated, in one of this cycle's most competitive districts per the project's own priority table.
- The prior one-line summary on this record describes him as having "consistently supported U.S. military aid to Israel". His vote record includes the November 2023 No, so this card states the directions rather than the summary's word "consistently"; the prior summary is superseded on display and retained in the data.
Also in this race: Tano Tijerina (Republican) · All Texas 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.