US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) speaking at a press conference about the United States restricting weapons for Israel, at the US Capitol, Washington, DC. Photo: Michael Brochstein/Sipa USA via Reuters Connect

US Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is reportedly planning to put forward a War Powers Resolution that would force President Joe Biden to abandon his administration’s floundering Gaza humanitarian aid pier initiative.

The senator argued that the humanitarian aid pier has become a magnet for attacks since its construction, potentially endangering American servicemen. He also suggested that the aid flowing through the pier will end up in the hands of Hamas — the Palestinian terror group which rules Gaza and launched the ongoing war there by invading Israel on Oct. 7 and murdering 1,200 people — instead of Gaza residents. 

The Biden administration issued a directive to erect the $320 million pier in response to allegations that the Israeli government has not done enough to ensure a sufficient flow of humanitarian aid into the war-torn enclave.

“The Biden White House’s foreign policy is utterly backwards,” Cruz told Punchbowl News. “He is blocking weapons to Israel … and he has just recently spent hundreds of millions of dollars building this pier in Gaza to continue providing aid to Gaza that will go directly to Hamas.”

War Powers Resolutions are of privileged status, meaning that a political party holding a majority in the US Congress cannot prevent the resolution from being brought to the floor for a vote. Democrats currently hold a majority in the Senate, where a Republican-led initiative challenging the foreign policy of Biden, a Democrat, would be difficult to pass.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has indicated that he would not approve of a direct vote regarding the Gaza pier on the Senate floor, claiming that the White House has already issued a veto threat. 

“The power of the War Powers Resolution is that Schumer can’t block the vote,” Cruz said. 

Cruz acknowledged that the resolution is designed to place vulnerable Democrats in a difficult position. Democrats have become increasingly critical of the Israeli war effort in recent months, with some suggesting that the Jewish state has committed “genocide” and pressuring the Biden administration to secure a ceasefire. 

“This War Powers Resolution is a mechanism for forcing a vote and getting every Democrat on record — where do you stand? Do you support undermining Israel and supporting Hamas?” Cruz said. 

Since the completion of its construction, the Gaza pier has not lived up to expectations. 

During a Tuesday press conference, Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, the US Defense Department’s press secretary, revealed that none of the 569 metric tons of humanitarian aid delivered to the pier has been distributed to Palestinian civilians. Other reports claim that local gangs have ransacked the trucks and stripped them of their aid, complicating aid delivery logistics.

Last weekend, portions of the pier itself were dismantled when violent waves caused four transportation vessels to detach from their moorings and beach on shore. On Tuesday, multiple media outlets reported that the pier’s operations would be suspended after a part of it broke off, rendering it temporarily inoperable. Bad weather was believed to be the reason that the part had broken off.

Cruz also plans on advancing a bill to guarantee US arms shipments to Israel. The “Assuring Resupply of Munitions Act of 2024” would prevent the Biden administration from obstructing weapons deliveries to the Jewish state until a year after the Israel-Hamas war has concluded.

“I will use a War Powers Resolution to force a showdown in the Senate on Joe Biden’s policy toward Israel,” Cruz tweeted earlier this month. “What he’s doing is obscene. He’s pressuring Israel to defend his Gaza Pier from Hamas while denying Israel the weapons it needs to counter Hamas.”