A Memorandum of Understanding to provide $30 billion in security assistance to Israel over a decade was actually signed in 2007 under the Bush administration. The agreement called for a first-year installment of $2.55 billion in fiscal year 2009 (which was met), with aid increasing on a sliding scale for several years, averaging $3 billion a year over the 10-year term.
As a candidate, Barack Obama pledged to honor that commitment. And so far, he has.
The Obama administration’s proposed 2010 budget included the $2.78 billion in military aid to Israel that was called for in the second year of the plan.
On July 9, 2009, the House voted 318-106 in favor of the the fiscal year 2010 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill, which included $2.22 billion for Israel. Combined with $555 million of a funding from a supplemental appropriations bill to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, that brought the total up to the $2.78 billion in the president"s request.
This is a long-term promise, and Obama is just in his first year as president, but he stuck to the pledge even amid tensions over his call earlier this year for the Israeli government to freeze settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem as a precondition for peace talks, as well as amid protests from some antiwar groups. We move this promise to In the Works.