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KMT proposes own agenda for extra legislative session

Staff Reporter

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed a motion to convene a provisional legislative session calling for the review of 35 bills with an amendment to the Central Election Commission (CEC) listed ahead of a budget bill given priority by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

The controversy over a KMT-proposed bill designed to select members of the CEC in accordance with the number of legislative seats each party holds paralyzed the final day of the last session on Friday.

To compensate for the fact that the central government's budget bill and other bills of significance to the nation remained stuck in the legislature, the pan-green camp had proposed a motion for an extra session on Monday.

The DPP demanded the budget bill be made the first item on the agenda of any provisional session, while the KMT said that the budget bill should be put below the CEC bill.

"In our proposal, the first 29 bills to be reviewed in the extra session are the bills on which all parties have reached a consensus, the 30th is the CEC bill, and the 31st is the budget bill," KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said.

The last three bills of the proposal are a bill calling for the opening of cross-strait transportation, a bill for imposing stricter regulations on smoking and a bill related to the government's proposal to adjust pensions for civil servants.

Wu said that the agenda would be sent to the party's caucus meeting for approval.

DPP Legislative caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) yesterday slammed the KMT for "holding the budget bill hostage" by forcing the DPP to first accept its CEC bill.

The DPP has accused the KMT of pushing the passage of the CEC bill to take control of the commission so that it can thwart a possible referendum demanding the KMT return its stolen assets to the nation.
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