The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed budget requests for state-run enterprises for the current fiscal year after spending the whole night struggling with more than 300 proposed resolutions, but left a number of important bills stalled.
Legislators approved a total of NT$2.8 trillion (US$86.4 billion) in revenues and NT$2.7 trillion in expenditures for state-run enterprises after cutting the budget by NT$4.3 billion.
Lawmakers spent 18 hours beginning at 3:30pm on Monday voting on about 400 proposals related to budget requests put forth by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES
The DPP blocked the plenary session by calling for a revote on every one of the proposals.
Later on Monday night, both parties agreed to drop some of the proposals, bringing the number down to around 300. Nevertheless, legislators did not finish the marathon vote until around 10am yesterday.
DPP caucus whip Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said on the legislative floor that his caucus resorted to the stall tactic in a bid to “punish” the KMT caucus for a procedural controversy involving three bills aimed at allowing local schools to recruit students from China and to recognize Chinese credentials.
The DPP caucus refused to negotiate with the KMT caucus after a joint meeting of the Internal Administration Committee and the Education and Culture Committee last week rejected the DPP lawmakers’ proposal that the committees reconsider a decision to allow the bills to move on to cross-party negotiations — a necessary procedure before a bill is put to a second and third reading.
DPP caucus secretary-general Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) said the procedural controversy had not been resolved and urged the KMT caucus to stop attempting to push through any controversial bills.
The legislature went into recess yesterday at noon, right after legislators approved four Executive Yuan nominees for the National Communications Commission with full KMT support. The DPP lawmakers did not cast any ballots during the vote.
Urgent bills included a geology act that would restrict development in sensitive areas or areas vulnerable to disasters, an amendment to the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act (災害防救法) as well as bills related to land preservation and disaster relief mechanisms, and bills concerning upgrades and mergers for the five special municipalities remained at a standstill as legislators began their summer vacation yesterday afternoon.
While KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) yesterday said his caucus has not decided yet on whether to pursue a provisional session to pass more bills, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday said the Executive Yuan would ask the legislature to hold a provisional session to review an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) if the KMT government manages to seal the deal with China by the end of this month.
“We will do our best to [conclude the pact by the end of June.] When it is signed, we will soon refer it to the legislature for approval and request the legislature to set a date for holding an extra session to review the ECFA and other urgent bills,” Wu said.
The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed budget requests for state-run enterprises for the current fiscal year after spending the whole night struggling with more than 300 proposed resolutions, but left a number of important bills stalled.
Legislators approved a total of NT$2.8 trillion (US$86.4 billion) in revenues and NT$2.7 trillion in expenditures for state-run enterprises after cutting the budget by NT$4.3 billion.
Lawmakers spent 18 hours beginning at 3:30pm on Monday voting on about 400 proposals related to budget requests put forth by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP).
The DPP blocked the plenary session by calling for a revote on every one of the proposals.
Later on Monday night, both parties agreed to drop some of the proposals, bringing the number down to around 300. Nevertheless, legislators did not finish the marathon vote until around 10am yesterday.
DPP caucus whip Chai Trong-rong (蔡同榮) said on the legislative floor that his caucus resorted to the stall tactic in a bid to “punish” the KMT caucus for a procedural controversy involving three bills aimed at allowing local schools to recruit students from China and to recognize Chinese credentials.
The DPP caucus refused to negotiate with the KMT caucus after a joint meeting of the Internal Administration Committee and the Education and Culture Committee last week rejected the DPP lawmakers’ proposal that the committees reconsider a decision to allow the bills to move on to cross-party negotiations — a necessary procedure before a bill is put to a second and third reading.
DPP caucus secretary-general Lee Chun-yee (李俊毅) said the procedural controversy had not been resolved and urged the KMT caucus to stop attempting to push through any controversial bills.
The legislature went into recess yesterday at noon, right after legislators approved four Executive Yuan nominees for the National Communications Commission with full KMT support. The DPP lawmakers did not cast any ballots during the vote.
Urgent bills included a geology act that would restrict development in sensitive areas or areas vulnerable to disasters, an amendment to the Disaster Prevention and Protection Act (災害防救法) as well as bills related to land preservation and disaster relief mechanisms, and bills concerning upgrades and mergers for the five special municipalities remained at a standstill as legislators began their summer vacation yesterday afternoon.
While KMT caucus whip Lin Yi-shih (林益世) yesterday said his caucus has not decided yet on whether to pursue a provisional session to pass more bills, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday said the Executive Yuan would ask the legislature to hold a provisional session to review an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) if the KMT government manages to seal the deal with China by the end of this month.
“We will do our best to [conclude the pact by the end of June.] When it is signed, we will soon refer it to the legislature for approval and request the legislature to set a date for holding an extra session to review the ECFA and other urgent bills,” Wu said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY SHIH HSIU-CHUAN
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