Opposition lawmakers yesterday voted down a motion by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus to call a three-day provisional session to review the five-year, NT$500 billion (US$14.8 billion) public construction program and other priority bills.
The alliance of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) upset the DPP and its tiny ally, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU), 104 to 82 in the first round of the showdown vote. Independent lawmakers opted to abstain.
In a last-ditch effort to turn things around, the DPP called for a second vote. In the second round of voting, 112 lawmakers voted against the DPP's proposal while 84 lawmakers voted in favor of it.
Although the result did not come as a surprise, Cabinet Secretary-General Liu Shi-fang (
"We're sorry to see the special bill and special budget of the five-year plan for 10 major infrastructure projects marginalized in the run-up to the presidential poll despite the premier's responding to lawmakers' questions about the program last year," she said.
Lu said the petition to convene a provisional legislative session was not politically motivated and neither was the five-year plan.
"All we care about is how to boost the economy and we believe that the early passage of the special bill and special budget of the five-year plan will help reach that goal," she said.
With the implementation of the plan, the Cabinet hopes to boost the nation's economic growth rate from last year's 3.15 percent to 5 percent this year and cut the jobless rate from last year's 5 percent to 4.5 percent this year. The plan is expected to create 64,000 jobs each year.
As the legislature is set to reconvene on Feb. 6, Liu said she hoped the lawmaking body would give priority to the review of the five-year plan as well as other bills branded urgent by the Cabinet.
Backing up Liu, Chiu Chuang-liang (
"I'm against holding an extra session because it's impossible to review such complicated and controversial bills as constitutional amendments and the Budget Law (
TSU caucus leader Chen Chien-ming (
"While the nation's economic development is at a bottleneck, the opposition camp should have helped the government improve the situation instead of boycotting or blocking the passage of economy-boosting bills and budget requests," Chen said.
Newly elected DPP caucus leader Tsai Huang-liang (
"The opposition camp doesn't necessarily have to agree with President Chen Shui-bian (
KMT legislative whip Lee Chia-chin (李嘉進), however, said the Cabinet should not have proposed the five-year plan in the first place.
"It's nothing but another campaign tactic and a waste of taxpayers' money," Lee said.
The public construction program promised by the KMT in the presidential election campaign would cost NT$2 trillion over four years.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique