FRONT PAGE MAG
by Edwin Black
June 13, 2014

On June 12, 2014, the spreading Congressional sentiment on defunding the Palestinian Authority escalated to a formal resolution in the House of Representatives. Some fifteen cosponsors, led by Representatives Trent Franks (R-AZ)and Michele Bachmann (R-MN), have officially presented their resolution to defund the PA based on two violations of American law: the unity with Hamas and the recently-publicized program of monthly salaries paid to Palestinian terrorists in Israeli prisons via the PA’s Ministry of Prisoners. The resolution framers call for a “sense of the House” that all funding be stopped unless the PA takes verified actions “dissolving the unity government with Hamas,” regardless of any technocratic appearances, as well as “repealing the Law of the Prisoners and abolishing the Ministry of Prisoners … relating to compensation and recognition of convicted terrorists.”

Prior to this action, various preliminary resolutions were floated and announced from the floor of the House, such as an April 3, 2014 effort advanced by Ted Poe (R-TX), but never put to a vote. By entering the formal resolution, House procedures will automatically number it and refer it to the House Foreign Affairs Committee for a possible vote. That committee is controlled by Chairman Ed Royce (D-CA) and its ranking member Eliot Engel (D-NY), both of whom have publicly warned the PA about a funding stoppage. If the new resolution survives the Foreign Affairs Committee, it then goes to the full House for an up or down vote.

According to Congressional analysts, the new “sense of the House” resolution is not only a policy document, it is “a messaging instrument to the Obama Administration and House appropriators.” Key among those appropriators is Nita Lowey, the ranking Democrat from Westchester County, NY. Lowey sits on both the full Appropriations Committee and the key subcommittee governing State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs. Foreign assistance begins and dies in this subcommittee. The Republican side of the aisle, including subcommittee chairwoman Kay Granger from Dallas, has been lining up staunchly against continued funding, citing the known legal obligations.

For Lowey, the question is whether she will break with the Obama Administration, which has signaled willingness to continue funding the new Hamas-infused Palestinian Authority. In some House quarters, the pending funding for the PA is referred to as the “Lowey Appropriation” with many staffers and members conceding she “is in the driver’s seat,” as one Appropriation Committee staffer phrased it.

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