People First Party (PFP) lawmakers yesterday threatened to reject the government's budget for next year.
The lawmakers said they were especially concerned about the way the judiciary budget had been handled by the government.
"The budget for ... the Judicial Yuan was particularly arguable since the budget was calculated assuming a revised judiciary structure under the yet-to-be-approved revisions to the Judicial Yuan Organic Law (
The Judicial Yuan budget obviously violates the Budget Law (
The PFP was considering rejecting the judiciary budget, according to PFP whip Chou His-wei (
"It can be included as an additional budget later when the Legislative Yuan formally approves the revisions," Chou said.
But a ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker disputed the PFP claim.
"The opposition party members delayed the legislative review for amendments to the Judicial Yuan Organic Law, and now they claim that the budget is illegal because the legislature has yet to give a green light to the revisions. This is another case of filibuster," Legislator Chen Chin-jun (
The Judicial Yuan must plan its budget for next year with the expectation that the revised organic law will clear the legislature soon, as Constitutional Interpretation No. 530 suggested an Oct. 5 deadline to complete the legislative review, the DPP lawmaker said.
Chen Chin-jun urged his PFP colleagues to cut only the parts of budget they disagree with, rather than the entire budget.
"An overall rejection could affect the operation of Judicial Yuan when we are hoping that the revisions can be approved as soon as next week," he said.
The legislative caucuses reached the consensus two days ago that an additional legislative assembly would take place on Thursday to work on completing the review of bills including the organic law revisions and amendments to Statute Governing the Relations between the People of Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (
The PFP also criticized the DPP government for running up large deficits since it came to power.
The DPP has run up NT$10 trillion in debt since it took power, the PFP caucus said.
The DPP's Chen Chin-jun, however, said that the deficits included the NT$813.9 billion cost of taking over the responsibilities of the provincial government, which was dissolved in 1999.
"The DPP, despite carrying an enormous debt from its predecessors, has endeavored to control the increase of liabilities, and we are so far performing better than many countries in the European Union," Chen Chin-jun said.
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