Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and coalition party heads met with Finance Ministry officials on Monday to discuss the plan, which includes a 5% ministerial cut across the board, according to the Globes business news service.
Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson said that the budget “represents the beginning of a new order of priorities for the country, which includes both growth and narrowing of gaps.”
He promised to ensure that Israelis who live at or below the poverty line would not lose social services as a result, however. “This time,” he said, "we won’t cut the budgets of ministries responsible for social welfare, and this is a change in government policy worth emphasizing."
The Health and Welfare ministries will not face budget cuts, but the Education, Interior and Public Security ministries will not be as lucky. Their cuts are lower than some others, but they will still face the struggle of finding ways to cut 2.5% off their budgets.
If the United Torah Judaism party decides to join the coalition, an additional NIS 550 million will have to be found. The supplement will be needed to fund monthly grants to families with four or more children, in accordance with the UTJ handshake.
The plan calls for an addition of NIS 5.4 billion to meet the 2006 budget. Approximately 25% of that supplement - some NIS 1.4 billion - is due to obligations resulting from coalition agreements.
Defense would suffer an additional blow under the plan, in which the government would renege on the transfer of NIS 1.2 billion to supplement its budget.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz said the plan is a deliberate attempt to create dissent between Labor and Kadima. He also slammed the concept of using Defense Ministry funds to support social services. His fellow Laborite, Knesset Member Avishai Braverman, however, said the party was bound to support the plan.
"The Labor party must inscribe on its flag that the defense budget should be cut in favor of education and welfare,” said Braverman. “These are the main issues on which we promised our voters we would act on, so that we can say to our voters: We kept our promise."
Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson said that the budget “represents the beginning of a new order of priorities for the country, which includes both growth and narrowing of gaps.”
He promised to ensure that Israelis who live at or below the poverty line would not lose social services as a result, however. “This time,” he said, "we won’t cut the budgets of ministries responsible for social welfare, and this is a change in government policy worth emphasizing."
The Health and Welfare ministries will not face budget cuts, but the Education, Interior and Public Security ministries will not be as lucky. Their cuts are lower than some others, but they will still face the struggle of finding ways to cut 2.5% off their budgets.
If the United Torah Judaism party decides to join the coalition, an additional NIS 550 million will have to be found. The supplement will be needed to fund monthly grants to families with four or more children, in accordance with the UTJ handshake.
The plan calls for an addition of NIS 5.4 billion to meet the 2006 budget. Approximately 25% of that supplement - some NIS 1.4 billion - is due to obligations resulting from coalition agreements.
Defense would suffer an additional blow under the plan, in which the government would renege on the transfer of NIS 1.2 billion to supplement its budget.
Defense Minister Amir Peretz said the plan is a deliberate attempt to create dissent between Labor and Kadima. He also slammed the concept of using Defense Ministry funds to support social services. His fellow Laborite, Knesset Member Avishai Braverman, however, said the party was bound to support the plan.
"The Labor party must inscribe on its flag that the defense budget should be cut in favor of education and welfare,” said Braverman. “These are the main issues on which we promised our voters we would act on, so that we can say to our voters: We kept our promise."