Knesset gives preliminary approval for election-averting bill to delay budget
(Worthy News) – The Knesset passed in its preliminary reading Wednesday a bill to grant the government more time to pass the national budget, helping avert a fourth round of elections by pushing off the approaching deadline.
The bill, proposed Derech Eretz MK Zvi Hauser, passed 56-41, but its fate in three future votes that are required for it to become law remains mired in the very same coalition disputes and wrangling that have prevented the budget from being passed to date.
A breakdown of the votes was not immediately available, but the Likud, Blue and White, and Shas parties backed the bill. Meanwhile some of United Torah Judaism’s MKs voted against it after the party allowed them to vote freely. The party’s leaders are concerned about the delay’s implications for funds to ultra-Orthodox yeshivas. Financing for the yeshivas, where a significant portion of the ultra-Orthodox community’s men spend their days in study, has been held up along with the budget. [ Source: Times of Israel (Read More…) ]