The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus claimed yesterday that the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus had constantly ignored its proposals and that this was the main reason why the legislature had had no bills to review in the past few weeks.
“Ever since the beginning of this legislative session, the DPP legislative caucus or individual lawmakers have filed at least 50 proposals to legislative committees for review, but only two of them were accepted by the committees, which are dominated by the KMT,” DPP legislative caucus whip William Lai (賴清德) said in a press release yesterday.
“It is difficult not to come to the conclusion that the KMT caucus has taken advantage of its majority in the legislature to boycott us,” he said.
Lai said in the statement that the legislature has been idle for the past two weeks, during which lawmakers had no proposed bills for review.
“When the KMT won the legislative election in January, this type of situation is what worried us. And now, it is really happening,” Lai said.
Lai said that the DPP caucus has filed several proposals concerning the public’s well-being, such as an amendment to the National Pension Law (國民年金法) that aims to include farmers’ rights in the law, which was blocked by the Home and Nation Committee.
The drafted amendment echoed president-elect Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) campaign policies, yet it has been ignored by the KMT caucus, Lai said, questioning whether Ma was planning on breaking his own campaign pledges.
In response, KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) said the DPP cannot blame the KMT caucus as it keeps proposing “controversial bills, which makes it difficult for them to be included on agendas.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
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