Since the end of last year, the Legislative Yuan has seen serious partisan conflict over a NT$50 billion development expansion budget proposed by the Cabinet. Several negotiating sessions between the ruling and opposition camps have ended in rancor. A big showdown in the form of a vote appears inevitable now.
NT$50 billion is not peanuts. It could help revitalize the economy. But why are the parties -- which all pay lip service to the economy -- unable to reach an agreement on a budget that will go to public construction and stimulate the economy? Because the parties may be talking about the economy, but what they are thinking about is politics.
The opposition believes the budget proposal is a sop to local governments ahead of next year's presidential election. They believe this is why the Cabinet has not hesitated to exceed the government's debt ceiling and ignore the kind of small construction projects the local governments want. So the opposition isn't going to endorse what it sees as a vote-buying scheme funded by taxpayers' money.
On the other hand, the government believes the economy will not recover if it does not take the initiative to expand public construction and cut unemployment. Seeking quick results, the Cabinet did not follow its usual procedure of having local governments submit their construction plans for budgeting. Instead, the Cabinet has set a budget and wants to just hand the money over to local governments, who will decide how to spend their own portions.
At what level, however, such a decision should be made is another bone of contention. Since a large number of county commissioners and city mayors are DPP members, the Cabinet wants city and county governments to have the final say. The opposition camp controls a larger chunk of positions at the township level, so naturally it wants the final decision to rest at that level.
The NT$50 billion proposal is prime pork -- a blatant piece of pork-barrel legislation aimed at currying favor with voters and revitalizing the DPP's administrative track record. Because of the benefits to be had in each constituency, however, not one politician has had the guts to stand up and say there is no real value to the measure. For a while KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
The KMT's legislative caucus, meanwhile, remains firmly opposed. It has a strong footing on legal grounds. However, it has yet to seek public support for its stance. In the battle for public opinion, the DPP is gaining the upper hand.
President Chen Shui-bian (
NT$50 billion could help the economy if used for capital investment. A quick review of the record of local governments on the use of tax funds tells us that the purpose of this budget will likely be obscured and its outcome ineffective. It may help cut unemployment temporarily, but its effect on the overall economic environment will be limited.
Everyone can see that both the ruling and opposition parties are motivated by political needs. Their hyperbole would be laughable if the economic situation were not so dire. But it seems that the politicians are the only ones who do not realize their actions are a joke.
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