Taylor Force, 29, was killed by a Palestinian terrorist who went on a stabbing rampage in Jaffa on March 8, 2016. (photo credit: FACEBOOK)

On March 8, 2016, Taylor Force, a graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point and veteran of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, was visiting Israel as part of a MBA group from Vanderbilt University. A 22-year-old Palestinian terrorist douchebag attacked Force’s group with a knife. Force was killed. His wife and nine other were injured before security forces managed to kill the attackers.

By this guy killing several innocent people and then being killed himself, his family won a grim kind of dystopic Lotto that only a totally depraved society could conceive of.

About 13,000 Palestinian men and women are beneficiaries of the prisoner payments, which totaled about $160 million in 2017, or an average $12,307 per person. (The PA funds also include after-prison aid, such as unemployment assistance and educational scholarships.)

About 33,700 families (19,700 in the Palestinian territories) shared in about $183 million in martyr payments, or $5,430 per family. (Note: Payments for families in the Palestinian diaspora are about double the level for families inside.)

This pension system is funded by the United States government because money is fungible. It doesn’t matter if our dollars are earmarked for noble things, like bomb-making Montessori classes, our money allows money from other sources to allow this “pay-to-slay” system to function.

Lindsey Graham, Dan Coats, and Roy Blunt co-sponsored legislation, The Taylor Force Act, which would cut U. S. payments to the Palestinian Authority unless this grotesque bounty system was done away with. For reasons apparent only to Democrats, the bill could not get a vote in the Senate.

Spox tells me @SenatorLeahy quietly blocked stand-alone vote on Taylor Force Act because "there was no opportunity" to voice concerns. The bill was introduced in Feb. *2017* and Leahy never publicly stated opposition. https://t.co/TfBwUQRLIT @FreeBeacon

— Natalie Johnson (@nataliejohnsonn) March 22, 2018

Until yesterday.

Second, the bill includes the Taylor Force Act, legislation I proudly cosponsored, which will stop U.S. taxpayer dollars from going to the Palestinian Authority if it continues its policy of paying monetary rewards to terrorists and their families.

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) March 22, 2018

Statement on the #TaylorForceAct being included in the spending bill. pic.twitter.com/fJqHNK1k9L

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) March 22, 2018

The passage of the Taylor Force Act is an important step towards finally ending the despicable practice of pay to slay & ensuring accountability in the Palestinian Authority. All countries must demand that the PA invest in a future for Palestinians, not pay terrorists' salaries.

— Ambassador Danny Danon | דני דנון (@dannydanon) March 22, 2018

#Congress just passed the #Taylor Force Act as part of the #Omnibus spending package. The Act conditions US aid to #Palestinian on stopping all financial incentives #terrorists and their families, for murdering #Israelis and Americans such as Taylor Force https://t.co/cAhDZNmBzD pic.twitter.com/u1yVLO6MFi

— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) March 23, 2018

US Taylor Force Act to become law despite strong #Palestinian Authority opposition 👍https://t.co/5WXVrNBsSQ pic.twitter.com/qQTbjtoinI

— Hananya Naftali (@HananyaNaftali) March 23, 2018

None of this is to say the Omnibus is a good thing. It isn’t. It is a totally corrupt and inept way of funding government operations. But neither is it an unalloyed evil because the Taylor Force Act is definitely a move in defense of civilization.