The legislature’s Procedure Committee yesterday voted against scheduling a debate on next year’s budget as opposition legislators said the proposed budget was missing funding items that were omitted by the Cabinet.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on Friday last week used their combined legislative majority to vote to return next year’s proposed budget to the Procedure Committee, which organizes bills and determines which are to be discussed and when.
The committee voted nine to seven with one abstention to not schedule a hearing for the budget, which led to the committee’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) members raising protest signs.
Photo: Chen Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
All but one of KMT and TPP committee members voted against scheduling a hearing with the sole abstention being KMT Legislator Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋).
When the meeting started, KMT caucus whip Lin Tzu-ming (林思銘) moved to postpone all 12 proposals. While this is allowed, it is unprecedented, said DPP Legislator Shen Fa-hui (沈發惠), who chairs the committee.
The decision to postpone the budget review could result in other committees not having their own budget proposals to review, he added.
KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) pushed back on Shen’s statement, saying that the budget needs to be redrafted to include important amendments passed earlier this year, like increased logging compensation for indigenous people, higher prices for national food stocks and National Health Insurance point adjustments.
The KMT is asking the administration to incorporate these resolutions into the budget and ensure the government is spending taxpayers’ money appropriately, he added.
He accused the DPP of having postponed prior budgets, such as in 2008, which resulted in several DPP officials clarifying that past budgets were never postponed, only critiqued.
DPP Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) accused the opposition legislators of putting on a show, harming the nation and not actually reading the proposed budget.
The proposed budget included a 3 percent salary raise for public servants and school subsidies, she said.
If the opposition parties have issues with individual ministry budgets, those could be raised in committee reviews, rather than postponing the whole budget, DPP Legislator Chuang Ruei-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said.
Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) expressed dismay at the committee’s decision, saying that the budget could be explained, discussions could be held and dissenting views would be respected.
DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) called the decision irrational and claimed that it “erodes” Taiwan’s democracy. She also warned the opposition that public opinion would turn against them.
Additional reporting by Hsieh Chun-lin and Chen Cheng-yu
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
EASING ANXIETY: The new guide includes a section encouraging people to discuss the threat of war with their children and teach them how to recognize disinformation The Ministry of National Defense’s All-Out Defense Mobilization Agency yesterday released its updated civil defense handbook, which defines the types of potential military aggression by an “enemy state” and self-protection tips in such scenarios. The agency has released three editions of the handbook since 2022, covering information from the preparation of go-bags to survival tips during natural disasters and war. Compared with the previous edition, released in 2023, the latest version has a clearer focus on wartime scenarios. It includes a section outlining six types of potential military threats Taiwan could face, including destruction of critical infrastructure and most undersea cables, resulting in
RSS