A cross-caucus negotiation at the Legislative Yuan on Wednesday last week reached a consensus that the legislature would invite Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) to report on this year’s general budget and refer it to committees for review tomorrow.
If tomorrow’s meeting proceeds smoothly, it could end the prolonged political gridlock between the Cabinet and the Legislative Yuan over the general budget, which has delayed the review for an unprecedented 230 days.
While the Executive Yuan, on the same day, thanked Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) for mediating the cross-caucus negotiation and the ruling and opposition caucuses for prioritizing public welfare and national development, a consensus was not reached because of a sudden change of heart by the opposition-controlled legislature, but due to agreed concessions.
The Cabinet agreed to promptly implement a NT$71.8 billion (US$2.27 billion) portion — about 2.1 percent — of the NT$3.3 trillion budget that was selected by the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in January for funding 38 new initiatives, which the legislature agreed to pass in upcoming reviews.
The Cabinet also agreed that it would submit bills within six months of starting the review to raise pay for active-duty military personnel and increase the income replacement ratio for retired police officers and firefighters, while the TPP caucus agreed to withdraw an earlier motion for budget reconsideration.
Since the Cabinet proposed the general budget for review in late August last year, opposition lawmakers had boycotted the review procedure, arguing that legislation passed earlier last year to raise pay for military personnel and increase pensions for retired police officers and firefighters was not reflected in the general budget, using this as justification to reject the proposal as “unconstitutional.”
The Cabinet refused to earmark the funding, arguing that doing so would be unconstitutional, as Article 70 of the Constitution stipulates that “the Legislative Yuan shall not make proposals for an increase in the expenditures in the budgetary bill presented by the Executive Yuan,” and requested a constitutional interpretation and an injunction.
As the budget review remained stalled into the new fiscal year, local governments began expressing concerns about financial pressure as some public service policies were only partially funded by the central government. In response, opposition lawmakers in January selected 38 items, including childbirth subsidies, TPass public transportation and flood management projects, and passed a resolution allowing the Cabinet to allocate these funds — about NT$71.8 billion — first, an unprecedented step in legislative history.
Amid the prolonged stalemate, last week’s cross-caucus compromise allowing the budget to proceed to review appears to be a breakthrough, but it does not guarantee a smooth process ahead for the Cabinet or a full return to normal legislative functioning. Questions remain about whether the legislature has functioned adequately since lawmakers took office two years ago.
Under responsible governance — centered on accountability, transparency, the rule of law, ethical conduct and sound financial management — the Cabinet is responsible for preparing and proposing the budget, which must then be scrutinized through cuts or freezes and approved by the legislature.
The intent behind Article 70 of the Constitution is that a fiscally sound budget requires unified planning by the executive branch, to avoid excessive or localized spending driven by lawmakers incentivized to satisfy voters and secure district funding rather than national interests, which could lead to imbalances or deficits.
However, opposition lawmakers in 2024 had already forced the Cabinet to compromise by stalling review of the previous year’s budget until it agreed to earmark funding for increased compensation related to logging bans on indigenous lands, following earlier legislative action.
The opposition found this method effective in compelling the Cabinet to implement its decisions without assuming executive office, and continued similar tactics last year, intensifying the legislative-executive deadlock and expanding legislative overreach.
Meanwhile, the legislature continues to stall review of a special national defense budget (although another cross-caucus negotiation is scheduled this week) and keeps rejecting nominees for Constitutional Court justices, Central Election Commission members and Examination Yuan officials, with consequences for national security and disruptions to normal government operations and public services.
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