The Executive Yuan is likely to ask that amendments to a budget law that would give local governments an additional NT$150 billion annually from the central government's coffers be overturned.
"As proposing a revision would take a significant amount of time, the Cabinet may decide to ask that the amendments be overturned instead," said Tsai Huang-liang (
But whatever route the Cabinet decides to take, the DPP's legislative caucus will back it 100 percent, Tsai said.
Tsai made the remark before Cabinet Secretary-General Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) visited the DPP legislative caucus yesterday.
Lee yesterday also visited the KMT, PFP and TSU legislative caucuses to solicit opinions and support.
Tsai said that lawmakers are worried about possible partisan conflict in the legislature should the Cabinet eventually decide to ask for the amendments be overturned.
"However, we're more concerned about the central government's financial difficulties and its subsidies to local governments," he said.
Should the Cabinet decide to make the request, the legislature agreed to call a meeting on Feb. 19 to discuss the matter and to reach a consensus on the same day on how to tackle the issue.
The Constitution mandates that if the government wants to overturn a law, the Cabinet must send a request to the president within 10 days of receiving the written text of the law from the legislature.
Lawmakers are required to reach a final decision within 15 days of receiving the request.
If at least one half of 225-member legislative body vetoes the request, the premier would have no choice but to accept the original changes to the budget law. The changes would then go into effect three days after they are promulgated by the president.
But if one half of the lawmakers fail to reach a final decision before the deadline, the passed amendments automatically become invalid.
Tsai said that the DPP caucus is not worried about whether it will be able to garner sufficient votes to overturn the amendments.
"We are hoping that the opposition parties will depoliticize the issue and instead look at it from a professional perspective," he said. "I believe justice will eventually prevail."
Incoming DPP legislative whip Wang To (王拓) said that local governments will not receive as much funding from the central government as was claimed by Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who proposed the amendments.
"Although it may seem that local governments will get more from the redistribution fund, they will get less from subsidies," Wang said. "What it really does is to make the rich richer and the poor poorer."
Under Ma's proposal, the portion allotted to the two special municipalities of Taipei and Kaohsiung will drop from the current 43 percent to 36.22 percent. Meanwhile, the portion allotted to other city and county governments will rise from the current 39 percent to 45.92 percent.
See story:
Taipei City warns not to turn budget dispute into conflict
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