The Cabinet’s special bill to expand domestic demand and stimulate economic growth failed to make headway in the legislature yesterday as ruling and opposition lawmakers questioned its appropriateness and source of funding.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕), who presided over the joint committee session, said her colleagues across party lines had chosen not to address the bill until they could learn more about it.
Lu announced the decision after emerging from a lengthy behind-the-scenes cross-party consultation to end a filibuster by opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers earlier in the day.
DPP lawmakers insisted the bill should be returned to the Cabinet in light of its flimsy contents.
They took turns at the podium as ruling KMT legislators threatened to put the bill directly to its second reading despite the shared misgivings about the plan.
At issue was a special funding measure worth NT$130.1 billion (US$4.28 billion) to finance a five-year national development program first introduced by the former DPP administration in 2004.
The DPP government had requested NT$77.3 billion for this year to continue the project, but handed over power to the KMT last month before the legislature could start review of the proposed budget.
The new KMT government raised the amount by some NT$52.8 billion after making assorted revisions, notably the plan to help local governments carry out public works projects in their districts.
The DPP legislative caucus said that the measure smacked of political tradeoffs as the Cabinet has asked local governments to file subsidy requests when special budgets should rather be used on major public works projects engineered by the central government.
DPP Legislator Kuan Pi-ling (管碧玲) said she suspected the KMT administration was seeking to woo local governments with the funding rather than boost the economy.
Lin Shu-fen (林淑芬), another DPP lawmaker, said she could not conduct a meaningful review as the budget plan consists only of two small sheets and fails to supply breakdowns for the spending.
The KMT caucus, seeking to end the DPP’s opposition, called a recess and agreed later in the day that the committees involved would first hear reports from Cabinet officials and start review of the bill next week.
Aside from legal concerns, ruling and opposition lawmakers also frowned upon the proposed sale of Chunghwa Telecom Co (中華電信) shares to help fund the spending program for fear the practice would undermine government control of the lucrative telecommunications company.
KMT Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千) said that he and other party colleagues would side with DPP lawmakers in voting down the measure if the Cabinet persists in selling the Chunghwa shares.
Minister of Finance Lee Sush-der (李述德) told the committees that the proposed sale represented the best way to raise funds to help boost the nation’s economy by 0.45 percent and stabilize commodity prices.
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