Vice Premier Lin Hsin-i (林信義) paid a courtesy call to the legislative caucus of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday in an effort to gain the largest opposition party's backing to prioritize 116 draft bills earmarked by the Cabinet this session.
The visit of Lin, accompanied by ministers and Cabinet Secretary General Liu Shih-fang (劉世芳), signaled hope that the administration can reconcile with the Legislative Yuan after Premier Yu Shyi-kun complained in June that legislative inefficiency scuppered the Executive Yuan's plans for reforms and the economy's revival.
PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
"We hope that lawmakers will be able to complete the review of 116 priority bills, including amendments to the Statute Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) and revisions to the Statute Regarding the Establishment and Management of the Financial Reconstruction Fund (金融重建基金設置及管理條例) during this session," Lin said.
But the KMT conferees apparently were more focused on another matter.
"It is unfair that Cabinet officials joined forces to attack Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (醪荎嬝) at the Executive Yuan's weekly meeting on Wednesday," KMT Legislator Lee Chuan-chiao (李全教) said.
"An unsavoury comment by Cabinet Spokesman Lin Chia-lung (
The vice premier responded by saying that he did not know of any quarrel or that Cabinet officials had been targeting Ma during the closed-door Cabinet conference.
"The conferees simply exchanged their views on the referendum debate," Lin said.
Another issue attracting KMT lawmakers' attention yesterday was a mass transit railroad between Taipei and CKS International Airport, proposed as an alternative to the stalled high-speed railway.
A local newspaper yesterday suggested this proposal was offered by the vice chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, Chang Jing-sen (
Chang preferred the mass transit rail, by which trains would start at Taipei's Sungshan Airport and would take only 15 minutes to CKS International Airport.
The vice premier said he did not know about the proposal when he was asked to comment on this idea.
But the reported proposal led to KMT Legislator Lin Yi-shih (林益世) criticizing finalization of the 116 priority bills.
"How many bills among the 116 priorities have generated similar discord among Cabinet members but have now become legislative priorities to be finalized in this session?" he asked.
Lin said that the Executive Yuan has saddled the Legislature with an impossible task since lawmakers would not have time to finalize the 116 bills, besides reviewing the budget for the 2004 fiscal year, before this legislative session ends.
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