After more than a month of delay, the legislature yesterday adopted a unanimous resolution to accept the nation's fiscal 2001 budget bill for review, but would not listen to a presentation by Premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄).
Substantive review of the bill is expected to begin next week at the earliest. The legislature decided that Chang should submit a written report to the legislature instead of an oral presentation.
"We do this so there will be more time for substantive review of the budget bill. This will help the review proceed according to schedule," said majority KMT caucus whip Her Jyh-huei (何智輝).
According to the Budget Law (
Review of the bill could have started in early October had former premier Tang Fei (
After Chang was appointed to succeed Tang, the legislature demanded that Chang submit a new bill reflecting his own policy priorities, which meant giving a new oral presentation on the budget.
Chang, however, was declared persona non grata by the legislature following his Oct. 27 announcement that the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant project was to be scrapped, an announcement considered unconstitutional and illegal by opposition lawmakers from the KMT, the People First Party and the New Party.
Chang's scheduled oral presentation on Nov. 3 was cancelled as a result, and the opposition parties have rejected negotiations with the DPP.
Opposition leaders decided a few days ago that review of the budget bill should begin earlier in order to be finished by the start of the next fiscal year on Jan. 1. They concurred that Chang's oral presentation should be skipped "to save time."
The DPP caucus, which was upset that it was shut out of all negotiations and that Chang was prevented from attending the legislature, was nevertheless happy to see progress in the review of the budget bill.
"We face a dilemma. We need to voice our protest but cannot vote against the proposal [to accept the budget bill for review while rejecting Chang's oral presentation]," said Hsu Tain-tsair (
Hsu argued that it is against the Budget Law to deny the premier the right to make a report to the legislature on the budget bill.
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