http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/810487.html
Cabinet okays NIS 870 million cut from ministries' budgets to finance defense hike By Moti Bassok The government yesterday approved a 3.5-percent cut, to the tune of NIS 870 million, in the purchasing budgets of government ministries in 2007. The money will go toward an NIS 1.9 billion special supplement for the Defense Ministry, although Defense Minister Amir Peretz voted against the move. The cut will not affect the budgets for social welfare, employment, higher education, classroom construction, the health basket, multi-year plans for the Arab sector, development of the Negev and Galilee, or rehabilitation of the North. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert promised that the cut would not harm social projects. A proposal that the health budget not be affected at all by the cut and that the budgets for the education and public security ministries be only partially affected was rejected. In addition to Peretz (Labor), Housing and Construction Minister Meir Sheetrit (Kadima) also voted against the cut, and eight Labor and Shas ministers abstained. Labor faction chairman MK Yoram Marciano criticized his party's ministers for abstaining rather than voting against the cut when the cabinet would not agree to defer the vote for a week, as the faction had decided it would do prior to the cabinet meeting. Thirteen Kadima and Pensioners ministers voted in favor of the cut. "You created a situation whereby the cuts are me, the handouts are you," Peretz told Olmert and Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson during the debate on the cut yesterday, a mere four days after the Knesset approved the 2007 state budget. Peretz said the Defense Ministry supplement is necessary, due to the expenses of last summer's war in Lebanon and the cuts to the military budget in recent years, but that the cuts dictated by the 2007 budget will harm the weaker segments of society. He proposed increasing the expenditure for next year's budget and suggested deferring yesterday's vote by a week, as the Labor ministers had decided, so as to give the government time to get organized for increasing the budgetary expenses. Peretz's proposal was rejected by the cabinet. Infrastructures Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) said he supports increasing the defense budget because Israel faces further confrontations, but added that the treasury must not force budget cuts on government ministries. Olmert told the cabinet that the ministers can submit a proposal within a week regarding what elements of their budgets should be cut, so the various ministries can coordinate the cuts with the treasury. Olmert said the Prime Minister's Office plans to reform the relationship between the Finance Ministry and the other ministries, "with the goal of allowing the ministries to define their priorities regarding the various issues in their budgets." The Finance Ministry, however, said it already coordinates budget cuts with the relevant ministries. +++ -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
