Political analysts say that the budget cuts are likely to pass tomorrow, when they are brought to the Knesset for a re-vote. This second chance is possible because the bill in question does not fall into the category of laws that must wait six months before being brought for re-vote; as a general package of bills, it may be voted on again immediately. The one hurdle for the re-vote was removed this afternoon when the relevant Knesset committee voted to exempt it from the need to be tabled; the Shas representatives voted against the exemption.

It appears that the bill will pass in tomorrow\'s vote, as most of the absent MKs are being \"forced\" to show up and all the technical glitches will apparently be worked out. Deputy Minister Rabin-Pilosof, for instance, has been called back from her visit in France. There are still those in Labor who object to the plan, however, such as Shlomo Ben-Ami. Party whip Effie Oshaya had to work hard to be able to say this afternoon that he has 20 certain votes in favor of the cuts. Labor has 23 Knesset Members.

Even if the bill passes, however, the political ramifications of the firing of the Shas and UTJ ministers are not clear. Cabinet Secretary Gideon Sa\'ar implied today that regardless of the results of the re-vote, \"the question is whether it is acceptable in a normative government to have ministers voting against their own government... There must be elementary accountability to the public...\" If the dismissals in fact take effect and the parties depart the government, this will leave the coalition with exactly 60 MKs - precisely half the Knesset. Sharon would therefore look to opposition parties such as Shinui and National Union-Yisrael Beiteinu and try to include them in the coalition.

The economic ramifications of the bill\'s failure to pass may be immediate. The three international credit rating companies are currently in the midst of deciding whether to downgrade Israel\'s credit status. Israel persuaded them to hold off with the decision until after the new cuts were implemented, but they are now liable to wait no longer. Israel\'s rating may thus drop from A- to BBB. If in fact this decision is made before tomorrow\'s \"second chance\" vote, this would mean that the Israeli Government and Israeli companies such as Bezeq, the Electric Company, and the Airports Authority will have trouble borrowing money on the international market or will have to pay higher interest rates.