Opposition lawmakers charged that the Cabinet, in asking for additional funds for typhoon disaster relief, is only seeking cash to funnel to its DPP constituents.
The Cabinet has asked the legislature to loosen its grip over a NT$1.6 billion tax redistribution fund the premier says it needs for typhoon disaster relief.
PHOTO: CHEN HSIN-JEN, TAIPEI TIMES
In response, Lin Chuan (
PFP legislator Liu Wen-hsiung (
Lawmakers are set to discuss the Cabinet's proposal today.
KMT lawmakers, who on Wednesday claimed that the Executive Yuan had at least NT$44.5 billion on hand to spend, said yesterday that they had discovered an additional NT$25.6 billion.
That figure would bring the total amount of funds the opposition says is available for disaster relief to NT$70 billion.
They demanded the Cabinet provide detailed plans for the spending of the requested NT$1.6 billion by today.
"The KMT will certainly cooperate if the Cabinet is able to present detailed spending plans," said KMT legislative caucus whip Lee Cheng-chong (
"We wonder why the Cabinet pretends to be hard up for money instead of immediately sending help to the affected areas," Lee added.
According to KMT calculations, the newly discovered NT$25.6 billion consists of NT$11 billion from the "social relief" budget for fiscal 2000 and another NT$14.6 billion from public donations for post-earthquake reconstruction.
The original NT$44.5 billion figure cited by KMT lawmakers includes the NT$1.6 billion tax redistribution fund, NT$7.6 billion left over from past fiscal years, NT$9 billion in secondary reserves, and NT$26.3 billion originally budgeted for post-earthquake reconstruction but as yet unused.
Echoing the KMT's doubts, PFP lawmakers said the Cabinet should try to appropriate money from related budgets first.
"No matter how bad financial conditions are, it wouldn't be a problem to raise NT$10 billion to NT$20 billion [from these budgets]," PFP legislator Liu said.
DPP lawmakers, however, refuted the charges of politicking, saying that drawing on the tax redistribution fund is simply the fastest way to get help to the needy quickly.
Lin Feng-hsi (
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)