The current U.S. financial issues known as the “fiscal cliff” — along with the recent passing of Hawaii Senator and Appropriations Committee Chairman Inouye — are pushing the U.S.-Palau Compact Agreement to the sidelines once again.
The “fiscal cliff” refers to a package of spending cuts and expiring tax cuts that were supposed to kick in at midnight on December 31, case 2012. It is said that over 1,000 U.S. government programs – including the defense budget and Medicare – were in line for “deep, automatic cuts.”
The new legislation, that averted the “cliff,” put these discussions off until Feb. 15, 2013. Other discussions that have been delayed are those regarding more targeted budget cuts and increasing the amount that the U.S. Government can borrow to pay for programs.
Before accepting the “Senate-Obama” deal, 21 hours after it passed the Senate, House Republicans balked at the “fiscal cliff” agreement because it did not include reductions in government spending. If fact, many say House Republicans will be looking at spending cuts in the legislation to come. This could leave very little room for passing spending measures, such as the Palau Compact Review Agreement legislation, that provide no offset for the cost.
Anticipating this problem, Palau is looking to garner more political support in the House of Representatives and is considering, as a matter of priority, approaching the American Jewish International Relations Institute for assistance. The AJIRI is a Jewish lobbying group which serves as a private research arm for a bipartisan US Congressional Task Force of more than 40 House members. Palau has a solid history of voting for Israel in the U.N. and recently was one of only eight nations that voted with Israel against upgrading Palestine from an entity to a non-voting, observer State. This could provide the political capital needed for Palau to muster the help of AJIRI.
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