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Caucuses agree to Wang mediating session plans

"We just hope to hold extra sittings to pass bills needed by the public as soon as possible."

Tsai Hung-liang, DPP caucus leader

As extra legislative sessions loom, so do disagreements on how many sittings and when. However, the caucuses have agreed to let Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) host interparty negotiations to schedule the extra sittings.

The Executive Yuan met the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative caucus two days ago and decided to seek an extra sitting late next month to handle the proposed constitutional amendment on legislative downsizing, the budget plan for the 10 key infrastructure projects and other important bills.

But the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus proposed yesterday to hold two extra sittings to handle the constitutional amendment bill next month and drafts related to the March 19 assassination attempt in August.

"The constitutional amendment bill will finish its four-month negotiation period on July 19, and we propose to hold a sitting then to deal with the bill," said the KMT caucus whip, Liao Feng-te (廖風德).

"Meanwhile, the draft for the March 19 shooting special committee and the statute for establishment of a document-reviewing committee on the initiation of the national security mechanism after the March 19 incident will be discussed at the sitting on August 12, and we will consider whether to demand an additional sitting then," Liao said.

"But as to when the extra sittings will be held and what will be discussed, we will wait for Wang Jin-pyng's return [from the US] and have him host interparty negotiations," Liao said.

The DPP caucus director-general, Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯), also agreed that the two caucuses should wait for Wang's return to schedule the special sessions.

"The DPP caucus does not insist on a particular format of the extra sittings.

"We just hope to hold extra sittings to pass bills needed by the public as soon as possible," Tsai said.
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