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No progress made on budget bill

No progress was made in passing this year's government fiscal budget bill in the legislature as yesterday's legislative plenary session was adjourned because of the controversy surrounding an amendment to the Organic Law of the Central Election Commission (中央選舉委員會組織法).

The Budget Act (預算法) stipulates that the legislature has to finish its review of budget requests at least one month before the end of its fiscal year.

The non-passage of the budget bill marked the first time in the nation's history that the government started a fiscal year without the legislature's approval of its funds.

The budget bill has been stalled in the legislature since December because the pan-blue camp insist on prioritizing the Central Election Commission (CEC) bill while the pan-green camp consider the CEC bill unacceptable.

The CEC bill, if passed, would allow each party to recommend CEC members according to each party's legislative representation.

This is considered unconstitutional by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).

As legislators from all sides were struggling to push their own agendas inside the legislature yesterday, outside the Legislative Yuan, both the pan-green and the pan-blue camps were holding rallies.

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) mobilized several hundred supporters to occupy Qingdao E Road early in the morning, chanting slogans such as "the DPP is really blocking the budget bill" and "Pass the CEC bill."

Police soon warned the crowd to disperse because the KMT had not applied for permission to hold the rally in advance.

As the police from nearby Zhongzheng Precinct issued a second warning to the crowd, KMT supporters yelled back by saying "the KMT does not break the law."

The police erected barricades but there were no physical confrontations between the police and KMT supporters before the latter dispersed around 10am.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Legislature Yuan, some 1,000 DPP supporters protested against the impasse surrounding the budget bill.

DPP lawmakers took turns to address the protesters, mostly from southern Taiwan, gathered on Zhinan Road.

Some protesters dressed like mothers by wearing aprons and carrying feeding bottles.

"Children will suffer if the budget bill remains stalled," they chanted while holding baby dolls in their arms.

Showing the press a dog cage, an elderly DPP supporter said: "A cage like this should be used for keeping dogs instead of locking the budget bill inside."

The police also set up barricades in front of the legislature's entrances to prevent any conflict. No confrontation took place.

At one point as DPP Secretary-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) was speaking to protesters, a middle-aged demonstrator ran onto the stage and urged Lin to lead the crowd into the legislature to pressure the KMT but he was subsequently discouraged by party officials.

The DPP had planned the rally as a day-long event but the rally broke up after the plenary session was adjourned.

DPP caucus whip Wang Sing-nan (王幸男) said the DPP rally would continue next week because the KMT caucus has claimed that it will have its legislators ready for mobilization anytime between now and June 15 in a bid to take the DPP by surprise and pass the CEC bill.
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