Lapid lambastes new cost of living committee, six months after last one was set up

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid lambastes the government’s creation of a new committee to counter the rising cost of living, claiming that it is a duplicate of another cabinet task force created six months earlier.

“There is one thing worth noting: There is already such a committee, it was established six months ago, it is called the socioeconomic cabinet and its role is to deal with the cost of living,” Lapid says at the start of Yesh Atid’s Knesset faction meeting.

Lapid says the two panels are similar in composition and division of authorities.

“I could go on, because it’s great material for a skit on ‘Eretz Nehederet,'” he says, referencing Israel’s premier sketch comedy show. “Only it’s not funny, it’s sad.”

Saying that Israelis are “collapsing under the cost of living,” Lapid calls on the government to close superfluous ministries, open the food and toiletry markets to competition, and direct NIS 8 billion away from political promises to enable lowering the VAT rate by 2 percent.

“And above all, and most importantly, instead of committees, all they have to do is announce that they are backing away from their governance coup,” the Yesh Atid chief says, tying current economic troubles to the government’s plan to decrease judicial checks on its own power.