MK Yechimovitz
Photo: Uri Porat
MK Hilou
Photo: Eldad Rafaeli
Budget vote delayed
Knesset was supposed to vote on first reading of 2006 budget today, but owing to opposition threats to boycott vote, coalition agreed to delay it until Wednesday; Some coalition members also considering being absent from vote: “I didn’t enter politics to approve Bibi’s budget” – MK Yechimovitz (Labor)
The coalition folds: Upon pressure from the opposition parties, coalition chairman MK Avigdor Yitzhaki decided Monday morning to delay the plenum discussion and vote on the first reading of state budget for 2006.
Due to the government’s intention to pass the budget as soon as possible, opposition and coalition representatives compromised that the Knesset Finance Committee could begin deliberations on the bill before it is passed in the Knesset plenum. The vote on the first reading was delayed until Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the political arena is continuing to criticize the budget plan, drawn up last year by then Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, despite the fact that numerous amendments are expected before the second and third readings. A few Knesset members from the Labor party said they may boycott the budget vote so they could avoid approving Netanyahu's plan. Some Kadima members, mostly associated with the immigrant community, also are hesitating on their support of the budget.
MK Shelly Yechimovitz (Labor), who reached politics in time for the recent elections after a successful career as a newscaster, threatened to be absent from the vote to protest the budget. “I entered politics because of the ramifications of Netanyahu’s budgets – not to vote in favor of it. The Labor faction will discuss the issue as per my request. I won’t do anything until I speak with Amir Peretz. If I’m absent, it won’t have an acute affect on political stability – it will be more symbolic,” Yechimovitz told Ynet.
Labor MK Nadia Hilou is also considering boycotting the vote. The recent hike in the price of bread and other basic products will deepen the inequality between rich and poor, Hilou says, and will lower thousands of children under the poverty line, especially in the Arab sector. Thousands of Arab families do not earn enough to buy the most basic products, and “soon we will see children picking through trash cans,” Hilou said.
MK Shalom Simhon, however, called on his fellow Labor members to reconsider their decisions to vote against the budget to avoid the total disintegration of the party system. “Parties cannot turn into leaping boards into the Knesset, and as soon as they are elected Knesset members act however they like,” Simhon said. “A country cannot be run in this manner.”
In Kadima as well, there is some opposition to the budget. MK Marina Solodkin has already said that she won’t oppose – but neither will she support – the budget because she did not get the ministerial position promised her.
The Pensioners party will raise the issue of bread prices at the upcoming Knesset Finance Committee meeting, emphasizing the effect such a move has on needy elderly. "If we don't get a positive answer, we'll raise the matter for another discussion in the faction," MK Moshe Sharoni said.
