Jordan’s minuscule lobbying footprint is showing its limits as Amman bears the cost of growing US partisanship in foreign affairs.

Unlike other Middle Eastern countries, the kingdom relies almost entirely on King Abdullah II’s personal relationships to make its case in Washington. Jordan spent only $65,750 on lobbying and public relations in 2018, down from $267,000 in 2017 — a mere fraction of what richer countries in the region spend trying to buy influence in Washington.

For years, Jordan has been able to punch above its lobbying weight thanks to bipartisan support for the western-friendly monarch. But Amman’s ability to garner crucial US assistance and have its voice heard on US policymaking in the region has suffered setbacks in recent months amid US political squabbling.

The State Department is once again requesting a hefty $1.275 billion in economic and security aid for Jordan for the coming year, while House and Senate appropriators want an even larger $1.525 billion package. But legislation to allow expedited US defense sales to Jordan for the next three years and consider the creation of an enterprise fund remains bottled up in Congress after the Senate attached it to a bill combating the boycott of Israel that is going nowhere in the Democrat-controlled House.

Likewise, Jordan has gotten caught in the crosshairs as Trump and Congress tussle over US arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates amid increasing concerns over the civilian death toll in Yemen. The Senate voted in June to bar the UAE from transferring 500 US-made laser-guided bombs to Jordan because of bipartisan ire over the administration’s gambit to bypass Congress on Gulf arms sales (Trump subsequently overrode the prohibition). Both the House and Senate versions of annual defense legislation, however, authorize $66 million for an air traffic control tower and a munitions storage area at Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Azraq, near the border with Syria and Iraq.

Amman is also feeling the pressure as it seeks to balance support for both Trump’s Middle East peace push and for Jordan’s heavy Palestinian population, which feels betrayed by the US effort. In a sign of its dueling priorities, Jordan attended the US conference in Bahrain in June but huddled with Egypt to reaffirm its commitment to a two-state solution ahead of Trump adviser Jared Kushner’s follow-up visit to the region in late July.

While King Abdullah handles most of the high-level lobbying on behalf of Jordan, a handful of firms play a more targeted role. The Jordanian Embassy in Washington retains the Hogan Lovells law firm to help defend Amman-based Arab Bank in a terrorism lawsuit, although the firms have scaled back their involvement since a US appeals court threw out a 2014 jury verdict against the bank in February 2018.

And White and Case, Jordan’s law firm in a terrorism lawsuit brought by the families of three slain American soldiers, also registered as a foreign lobbyist “out of an abundance of caution” in June 2018 but has yet to disclose any lobbying-related payments or activities. A federal court in the District of Columbia last month dismissed the plaintiffs’ argument that Jordan had waived its sovereign immunity when it signed a status of forces agreement with the United States.

In addition, Amman paid public relations firms West Wing Writers and Vivien Ravdin just over $64,000 last year for help with communications. While most influence outfits spread out political contributions to both parties, West Wing Writers — a firm founded by veterans of the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations — skews heavily in favor of Democrats: In 2018, managing partner Vinca LaFleur, a former Clinton speechwriter and one of three foreign agents registered to work on behalf of Queen Rania, made 124 donations totaling more than $14,700 to Democratic candidates, including 2020 presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris ($2,762.50) and Beto O’Rourke ($100), with the top recipient being Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., with six donations worth $4,250.