TSU lawmakers yesterday vowed to fight to overturn a provisional measure today that allows the government to borrow money from state coffers to pay interest on public debt.
On Tuesday, the legislature adopted a resolution at the Cabinet's urging that will allow the state treasury to lend NT$40 million to the government to cover interest payments on public debt due Nov. 15.
The Cabinet, which failed to request an adequate budget for its spending this year, would be forced to default on the payment if it were denied the money.
The opposition alliance, which had panned the makeshift solution as illegal, relented after the DPP agreed to set aside the bill to regulate party assets.
The deal, however, drew vehement protest from the TSU, whose legislative caucus has introduced a motion to invalidate the resolution.
"The resolution cannot stand as it failed to include our dissenting opinion," said TSU lawmaker Su Ying-kwei (蘇盈貴). "There is no way we would go along with the tradeoff."
The party has issued a top mobilization order asking all its 13 legislators to attend the full meeting of the legislature today.
The DPP promised during a multi-partisan talk on Wednesday to persuade its tiny ally to retreat from the planned brinkmanship.
But Su said his party will not back down and criticized the DPP for agreeing to tie the matter to the party asset bill.
He said he is confident the DPP will come around and press for the legislation to regulate political parties and their assets.
The TSU motion has dim prospect of victory in light of the modest number of seats it has in the legislature, according to KMT legislative leader Lee Chuan-chia (李全教).
"The KMT has no appetite for fighting the small party," Lee told reporters. "All we'll bother to do is mobilize a dozen colleagues to quash the TSU proposal."
Lee said he believed the DPP would abide by the agreement.
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