A ministerial committee voted Sunday to reject proposed limits on ministers' spending during trips abroad. The proposal was set forth in response to massive hotel bills racked up by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and his entourage during a trip to the Paris Air Show in summer 2009.
Barak's trip to Paris was the subject of an investigation by the State Comptroller's Office, which found the 500,000 shekel ($130,000) hotel bill for Barak's team to be wasteful, and criticized the defense minister for “lavish” spending. State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss suggested that the government set clear limits on ministers' spending on trips abroad to avoid a repeat of the incident.
MKs Yoel Hasson and Nachman Shai of Kadima, along with Aryeh Eldad of National Union, attempted to put Lindenstrauss's suggestion into effect by creating a law calling for the Finance Ministry to set clear limits on ministers' spending. Such limits are already in effect regarding Members of Knesset and other senior public officials.
The bill would have punished ministers who exceeded the spending limits by forcing them to cover the difference at their own expense.
However, ministers who saw the bill Sunday decided to vote it down, leaving themselves free to determine their own spending limits while traveling abroad at the taxpayer's expense. Due to the committee's rejection of the bill, the bill will not be brought to a vote in Knesset.