Cabinet votes 21-5 in favor of proposed 2008 State Budget - Haaretz

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Last update - 22:18 12/08/2007

Cabinet votes 21-5 in favor of proposed 2008 State Budget

By Moti Bassok and Zvi Zrahia, Haaretz Correspondents

The cabinet approved the 2008 State Budget on Sunday, in a 21-5 vote.

Ministers from the Sephardi ultra-Orthodox party Shas and Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz cast the only opposing votes.

Ministers from Kadima, Labor, Yisrael Beiteinu and the Pensioners' Party all voted in favor.

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In the hours that led up to the vote, the Finance Ministry agreed to compromise on a number of key clauses in the budget.

In negotiations with the Histadrut labor federation, the treasury agreed not to delay the implementation of a law that determines that workers employed through manpower agencies, who remain at the same company for a period of nine months, become employees of the company and therefore are entitled to benefits.

The treasury also agreed not to prevent the implementation of a law determining benefits for polio victims. According to the law, polio victims who have 75 percent disability will receive a one-time payment of NIS 120,000, while those who have a more minor disability will receive NIS 50,000. In addition, polio victims will receive a monthly stipend of NIS 3,500.

Ministers Shaul Mofaz and Eli Yishai on Sunday stormed out of the cabinet meeting on the budget.

Yishai, the minister of industry, trade, and labor, criticized the budget, saying it would harm the underprivileged public. He left the meeting and joined a protest outside the Prime Minister's Office against the treasury's proposal to cancel planned stipends for polio victims.

Transportation Minister Mofaz also walked out, when he realized that NIS 150 million were cut from the budget allotted to road safety. Upon leaving he left a note to the PM that read, "I cannot put up with this irresponsibility."

During the meeting, Finance Minister Roni Bar-On asked ministers to vote in favor of the budget, which he said "lays the foundation for a welfare state."

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said during the meeting that "the dividends of the economic growth will be channeled in 2008 to education, welfare and defense; the enlargement of the defense budget in 2008, in line with the Brodet Commission report, will better enable Israel to overcome the challenges the country faces."

Olmert also said that the new budget will reduce inequality and improve the education system. He said that the government's expenses in 2008 will be 1.7 percent higher than in the previous year: "Increasing expenses more than that would be indulging in the present at the expense of the future."

The party said that it would oppose several clauses of the budget, and that the ministers would give their final decision during the meeting.

Bar-On makes final push to win budget approval
Bar-On held several meetings last week with cabinet ministers in an attempt to reach an agreement on the 2008 budget, which is the biggest in the country's history - NIS 304 billion.

Over the weekend, Bar-On met with Mofaz but no agreement was reached. Mofaz has refused to meet with Finance Ministry officials and discuss budget allocation for perennial projects in his jurisdiction.

Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon said Friday during a Labor Party meeting that the party opposes a bill which postpones an expected hike in minimum wage from early 2008 to 2009. In addition, the party will oppose the implementation of the Employment Agencies Bill, which accords tenure to workers after 9 months of employment.

Simhon has said that the party would not be willing to negotiate the date of the minimum wage hike, as well as old age benefits. He said that Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, at the party's behest, has asked that the Economic Arrangements bill be cut down from its 370 clauses.

The Labor Party has issued a statement claiming that approving 370 clauses in one vote would be hugely irresponsible.

Labor MK Shelly Yacimovich, who along with MKs Orit Noked and Ami Ayalon asked that the cabinet reject the budget, has sent a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, saying that she would petition the High Court of Justice if the government does not remove from its agenda a bill from which the Economic Arrangements bill will be derived. She said the bill is unconstitutional, and every clause should be discussed separately in the appropriate circles.

Labor Party Chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak said during the party meeting that opposing the budget is "a slippery slope" that might lead to the party's ill-timed departure from the government. The party has said that a decision will be made prior to the cabinet meeting on the budget.

Shas will vote against the budget, as it has done in all budget meetings to date. Party Chairman Yishai has said that the current policy is detached from the needs of society, exacerbates social inequalities and alienates the underprivileged public.

Yishai intends to raise the issue of developing an alternative social program during Sunday's meeting.

Yishai opposes several Finance Ministry proposals, including the plan to levy national insurance and health insurance fees on 450,000 housewives, and the deferral of the Long School Day initiative. He has also expressed opposition to a plan to postpone an increase to the budget allotted to day care centers and preschools.

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