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Executive Yuan gets blame for budget delays

The legislature yesterday decided to delay its deadline for reviewing the fiscal 2001 budget bill until Jan. 2, citing as a reason excess time spent in negotiations with the executive branch.

The legislature's original decision was to finalize the review yesterday, so that the budget could be implemented as soon as the new fiscal year starts.

Legislators said yesterday that the process had fallen behind schedule because they were still busy negotiating with Executive Yuan officials, who seized every last opportunity to try to lobby the legislature to keep their budget items.

Opposition lawmakers yesterday said they had decided to remove a total of NT$95 billion of overestimated revenues, while the expenditures will be cut by some NT$50 billion, or 3 percent.

The fiscal 2001 budget bill, submitted by the Executive Yuan, has projected expenditures totaling NT$1.6082 trillion and revenues as totaling NT$1.4585 trillion.

Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), convener of the New Party legislative caucus, said that the Executive Yuan tends to overestimate the government's revenues and that the NT$95 billion cut was to reflect the reality.

Opposition lawmakers have agreed to restore some of the items that were cut improperly during the preliminary review.

These include an NT$62.77 million budget for the Executive Yuan's science and technology advisory panel and an NT$101.27 million budget for the Executive Yuan's flight safety committee.

The items will be maintained, but will be cut by 10 percent.

There are still items that remain in dispute among lawmakers -- including an NT$1.5 billion budget for a pipe construction project connecting the Nanhua Reservoir and Kaoping Creek.

Lawmakers are likely to resort to a ballot for a final decision on Tuesday, if negotiations fail.
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